


Mere Hospitality

by shinealightrose



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Cute Puppy Baek, Hybrids, M/M, Period Piece/Country Estate, Squire Yifan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-28
Updated: 2016-09-24
Packaged: 2018-05-03 19:53:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 34,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5304671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinealightrose/pseuds/shinealightrose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yifan rescues a bedraggled hybrid stray, and can't bear to kick him out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

They say you shouldn't let in strays unless you plan to keep them forever. Yifan doesn't remember where he first heard this from, but he's definitely weighing those words right now. Only it's too late. The hybrid puppy he found in the village this morning is sprawled belly up next to the grate before the large fireplace in Yifan's sitting room. He's tempted to call one of the servants to come and watch the boy while he commences his morning routine, just to make sure he doesn't do something bad, like pee on the carpet or knick something... Perhaps it's an uncharitable thought, but Yifan's never had a hybrid dog before and he's not entirely sure what their habits are like. Certainly they look more human than animal, but how do they act?

"Baekhyun?" Yifan nudges the hybrid softly with the tip of his boot. The boy doesn't move. Instead, a low yearning sound escapes from his lips. His eyelids flutter but don't open, and one ear twitches of its own accord. His ears have the look of a Border Collie, black and white tufts of fur that stick out like erect triangles; one is a little more spotted than the other. A beautiful but matted tail with similar coloring pokes out from behind his butt.

Yifan sighs and accidentally inhales a whiff of the hybrid's rain-slogged scent. He needs a bath. He's tempted also to call up his bed attendant and have the man rig up some hot water and a lot of soap. If he does, however, wouldn't that just break the hybrid's heart, when later on Yifan has to kick him out, back onto the streets?

He only wanted a morning stroll. The village is at its prettiest early in the day this time of year, even in the mists and the fog, and Yifan liked to set his mind on the day while taking a walk. He's due to go riding in the afternoon with his neighbor. After that he needs to check on the outlying farms on the estate, double-check that the construction for the new tenant cottages is coming along well. This morning he should be at his desk looking over the figures and the finances. His mother phoned yesterday with the proper protocol for announcing her impending visit over the weekend, and Yifan hasn't yet done a walkthrough of the guest suite with his head of staff to see that the cleaning has been done to her satisfaction. It's all business as usual around the mansion. Yifan doesn't need a hybrid to complicate things.

He tells a servant to prepare the bath water anyways, and then lead to the boy to it while Yifan settles into his study. He can't shake the image of the wet bedraggled hybrid sitting huddled beside the fountain in the square. His clothes shorn and filthy, face dirtied and sad, rain drops tracking down his cheeks, or maybe they were tears. How so many of the villagers and shopkeepers had walked right on by without looking at the lost stray, some even catching his eye and hearing his whimpers, and yet no one came to his rescue. It tore at Yifan's heart. Before he knew it, he was beside the hybrid, offering his handkerchief and a leftover meat bun, and that was all he was going to do until the boy whimpered loudly and sighed.

"What's your name?" he'd asked. Did hybrids even speak English? Did they have names? Yifan felt ashamed for not knowing even this much.

"Baekhyun," he whispered. So that answered that.

Somehow, he'd found himself standing up and instead of walking away, he beckoned the boy to follow, and he did. All the way back down the lane to the gates of his large estate and if the hybrid was shocked at his great abode, he made no further sign except a sigh of happiness for the warmth inside.

Yes, Yifan thinks after issuing instructions for the bath. He can do this much at least, for a day.

 

 

 

Several hours later, there's a knock on his door and his servant enters the room. "Sir?"

"Yes, Kyungsoo. What is it?"

The man bows shortly. "Sir. The... dog has been bathed and I took the liberty of gifting it a new pair of clothes from the charity bin and a new sweater as well. Shall I send him out now?"

Yifan frowns down at his books. "What time is it now?"

"Noon, sir. Where would you like your lunch meal sent?"

"I'll skip it today, Kyungsoo. I'm nearly done with these evaluations and don't want to lose my train of thought. Have the hyb.... Have Baekhyun eat something down in the kitchen, please. I'm sure Cook will know what he can eat."

"Sir. It will be as you've said."

It gives Yifan a measure of comfort. Baekhyun might as well have a proper meal as well as clothes, before he goes. No harm done if he sits down in the warm kitchen for another hour or so. It's cold outside, even colder than this morning and it's raining again. There might even be snow by tomorrow... Yifan determines briefly that he should go through his wardrobe and donate one of his older, lesser worn winter jackets and give that to the hybrid as well. It's the least he can do.

 

 

Yifan skips his leisure ride out that afternoon, but he does commit still to overseeing the grounds with his land manager. He and Junmyeon pull their hoods up fast, strings tied neatly under their chins to keep out the rain and they charge across the grounds, their horses kicking up mud and dirt from beneath their hooves. It's exhausting work, but if Yifan's tenants are expected to do their work under these conditions, Yifan should too.

It's on the ride back that Junmyeon jogs Yifan's memory.

"I heard you brought home a stray?" he asks, his tone similar to if Yifan had brought home a basket of muffins.

"I... yes. His name is Baekhyun."

"His name is Baekhyun," Junmyeon repeats with a noticeable half-smile. "Tell me then, are you planning to keep him?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, you brought him home, gave him a bath, clothed him, fed him..."

"What is it you're getting at, Junmyeon?" Yifan sighs. They're almost back to the estate, so he reins in the horse to a slow trot.

"I'm just saying... He's not a homeless person who can easily make his living begging off the townspeople for scraps. He's a hybrid. And compared to hybrids, human paupers have it good in this part of the country. At least they're viewed as human beings."

"So?"

"So, you brought home a hybrid. A half breed, and a pet."

"He's not a pet," Yifan declares angrily. He doesn't know where his indignation comes from, for he's certainly never had a hybrid before. Calling Baekhyun a half breed though, a pet... he remembers fondly how sweet the boy had looked before the fireplace, tail twitching, hands clenched together curled above his chest and the sighs of relief at having a warm place to lay down, even if it was just the floor.

He wants to keep him, Yifan realizes. It's a dangerous thought. He doesn't even know the boy. He brought a stranger into his house and is letting him run amok. What if his kitchen's been overrun? What if he growled at Cook, or ran away with the keys to the wine cellar or the pantry monies? What if...

"Yifan!"

Yifan snaps out of his stupor, confused at the voice calling him from halfway across the yard. The hybrid, Baekhyun, is standing beside the stable boy with an umbrella over both their heads. He looks different now. Clean, healthy, happy. He's smiling, Yifan realizes with lurch of his heart. And worse even than that, he's clearly... wagging his tail. It hurts him to think this, but Baekhyun does indeed give off the appearance of a happy dog awaiting the return of his master.

Yifan shakes his head and clears his throat. They pull up aside the stable boy and as Yifan alights, handing over the reigns, he notices Junmyeon definitely laughing at him now.

"Baekhyun," he says curtly to the hybrid, who grins brightly. "Who told you my name?"

"Everyone. Everyone did. I didn't realize you were the master of this place. Thank you for letting me stay. The meal, it was... very very very very, very good. And warm. And filling. And good. Thank you. Also for the clothes. And the nap. I liked the nap part."

Yifan has no reply because he doesn't trust his voice. He heads inside, waves goodbye to Junmyeon, and allows the hybrid to fall into step behind him.

"That's... I'm glad."

"You have a really nice house, Yifan. It's so big. And warm! You even have hot water. I didn't know humans bathed in hot water!"

Yifan turns a few corners, the hybrid still following behind, and he deflects a few confused looks by the servants he passes. They're obviously not used to sight of a hybrid, especially one walking so close like Baekhyun is. Yifan stumbles over a rug, and Baekhyun tumbles right into the back of him. Both freeze, while Yifan braces a hand against the wall, and Baekhyun throws his arms around Yifan's waist to keep himself from falling. It's... cozy, the hybrid touching him like this. But he wants Baekhyun to stop. He shouldn't be feeling this comfortable around him.

Baekhyun whines. At first Yifan thinks it's because he was afraid of falling. Then he realizes the hybrid isn't in any danger, but that he's still clutching him from behind.

"Baekhyun?" he asks tentatively.

"Mmmm... You too," Baekhyun mumbles into his back.

"Me too, what?"

"You are big and warm as well. Yifan thank you for letting me stay for the day. It was nice. I'll... I'll leave soon. And forever thank you for your hospitality. It was so so so nice. Thank you."

Baekhyun unwinds his arms, and Yifan's back feels cold now from the loss. He... he doesn't want to toss the hybrid out... not yet... surely.

"It's going to snow tonight. Stay... stay a few more days at least, okay? I'll let Kyungsoo know to prepare a bedroom for you."

He probably mistakes the yip he hears in reply. It's sweet and cute and it's doing things to Yifan's heart that he's never felt before.

 

 

 

He's also probably mistaking the lump at the foot of his bed that night. Clearly, Baekhyun was given a room of his own. He shouldn't need to crawl onto the unoccupied part Yifan's bed to find a comfortable place to sleep.

And he surely doesn't need to crawl under the covers with Yifan to keep either of them warm, but several weeks later this is exactly what he does. By that time, however, Yifan is in no position to complain. He's never kicking the hybrid out. Never, ever.


	2. One

Sunlight streams in through the window, the early morning light draping across Yifan's bed as he yawns himself awake. It's Monday and there are so many things he needs to accomplish this week. Letters to be posted, decisions to make, contractors to be met. His mother's impending visit looms as well in the back of his mind.

He stretches his arms, yawns again, and then swings his legs over the side of bed. He slips his feet into warm slippers and pulls on his dress robe. Kyungsoo is already awake, standing at the ready to bring Yifan whatever he needs, and right now he needs coffee. Yifan accepts the mug of steaming black liquid from the tray, sips it gently and then grimaces.

"Sir?"

"What is it, Kyungsoo?" he says hoarsely, not entirely awake enough for questions.

"Sir, I don't mean to alarm you, but I think your bed is alive."

"Excuse me?" Yifan turns to look at his servant, one eyebrow raised.

"It's moving, sir."

Now Yifan definitely knows he's not awake enough. "How can my bed be moving- Oh. Oh, actually that's alright, Kyungsoo. I'll take care of it."

For a moment both he and Kyungsoo stare at the unmade bed. Something is writhing around the lower corner of the frame, and now Yifan knows why his feet were so warm. A second later, Baekhyun's head pokes out of the sheets, his black and white mottled ears folded over. He blinks his eyes towards the unwanted morning light.

"Is it t-time to get... up now?" he yawns loudly. As he scoots up the bed, the sheets fall down across his bare shoulders. Kyungsoo averts his eyes, and Yifan clears his throat uncomfortably. It's not the first time Baekhyun has slipped into his room during the night, but it's definitely the first time Yifan caught him sleeping under the covers. Add to that the state of the hybrid's half-nakedness, and Yifan is extremely grateful that Kyungsoo is his most tight-lipped servant, else who knows what rumors could come of it.

He's been sheltering Baekhyun for a little more than two weeks, and already half the shire presumes him mad for taking in a man-dog. And most of the time they just call Baekhyun dog. It's derogatory and offensive, but Yifan has no control over what people say outside of his presence. His household at least is forbidden to address Baekhyun by anything other than this name, but he knows they still think him half crazy, both Yifan and the hybrid.

Baekhyun is already living up to some of his more animalistic traits by following Yifan around wherever he goes. Whether riding, or hunting, or inspecting the property, Baekhyun is always there, riding behind Yifan on the saddle or else running through the fields as he expends his energy. He putters around the estate from room to room, wherever Yifan goes, resting in window seats or in front of the fireplace when he works. The only place Baekhyun doesn’t go is to town, the place where Yifan found him,and Yifan is too afraid to ask specifically why.

As for the rest, he doesn’t mind. It's nice, having a companion such as him. Baekhyun is a relatively silent hybrid, which suits Yifan perfectly for when he needs to concentrate on business, but whenever Yifan wants to talk, Baekhyun is there to answer him, speak with him, play with him, or else interject inappropriate comments that make Yifan laugh. It’s been barely two weeks, but Yifan already loves having him around, and he doesn’t want to jeopardize that with gossip and hearsay that would only make Baekhyun uneasy. Hybrids are rare in this part of the country, and more than once Yifan’s heard of stories of them being run off, either by their masters, extended family members, or by locals who just don’t approve of such half breed ‘beasts.’

So the last thing Yifan needs is for his neighbors to think he's sleeping with his 'pet'.

"Baekhyun. Your clothes are... where?"

The hybrid scrambles all the way out of the covers, and thank God he still has his britches on.

"Uhm..." Baekhyun looks over the side of the bed towards the floor. He beams and looks up at Yifan. "On the floor?"

Yifan frowns at him. It's his way of showing of displeasure, but all that initiates is some tail wagging.

"Right. Get dressed please, Baekhyun, before you leave this room. Kyungsoo, is my bath ready?" His servant affirms it is so, and Yifan starts to follow him out, still sipping his coffee.

"Wait!" Baekhyun flails and accidentally topples off the side of the bed. Yifan winces at the sound, but Baekhyun is quick on his feet. "I'll come with you!"

"What?" Yifan squawks. "You can have a bath later."

"B-But, I wanted to... We could share!" Baekhyun prances across the floor to stand beside Yifan, one hand placatingly resting on Yifan's arm while his eyes go wide and his tail thumps even louder from side to side.

"No."

"But-"

"I said, no. Later, Baekhyun, please."

It's hard work, walking away from a sad puppy, but Yifan's only time to recharge in private is when he's having his bath. Baekhyun has invaded every other part of his life, including now his very own bed. Yifan should be allowed to keep one thing sacred to himself alone.

 

 

 

He manages to evade Baekhyun for a few more hours. It's surprisingly easy actually due to the role breakfast plays in the everyday events of Baekhyun's life. The hybrid loves food and would spend half his day down in the kitchen begging treats from Cook if he could. Alas though, Yifan rarely goes down there and since Baekhyun seems drawn to his presence, he finds him in his study around ten o'clock.

"Let's go over again what equipment we'll need to sort out that irrigation mishap," Yifan tells Junmyeon. His land manager barely ever sits down. Even as they talk, he's leaning up against the window seat balanced only with his hip.

"I'll speak with your neighbor and see what we can borrow--"

The door squeaks open on his hinges, halting his words. Yifan doesn't have to look to know it's Baekhyun, but he does anyway. The tips of the hybrid's ears are the first to breach the opening, followed by his smiling head. Another thing Yifan's gotten used to is the way his insides seem to compress with joy every time Baekhyun lurks about. He's almost certain he's mastered the art of hiding breathlessness. Baekhyun is merely his ward. He may be half-human half-Collie, but Yifan can't think like that. Until he's sure about what makes Baekhyun happy - as soon as he figures out how to treat Baekhyun, period - he refuses to treat him any differently. The bed incident this morning was just another one of Yifan's trials. He hasn't been able to shake off the visual image of his sleepy puppy, or how that same sleepy puppy had wrapped himself around Yifan's legs some time during the night. It's getting startlingly more precise, the little things he's remembering.

"Good morning, Baekhyun." Junmyeon is actually the first to greet him.

"Morning, Junmyeon. Are you keeping Yifan busy? You know how he hates to be not busy."

"Oh yes," says Junmyeon with an indulgent wink. "Very busy."

The hybrid smiles wanly as he enters the room, shutting the door behind him. He tiptoes across the room with his hands behind his back. He has all the appearance of a child who wants something. And right now, despite the brilliant smile he flashes at Yifan, Baekhyun wants something from Junmyeon.

The land manager toys with him, an innocent smirk. "Yes, Baekhyun?"

As if on cue, the tail begins to sway. Yifan hides away his smile and pretends there's something very interesting in his books. Baekhyun sidles up against Junmyeon, not speaking, but continuing to smile and look down at Junmyeon's hands, then at the pocket of the manager's tweed jacket.

"Oh, did you want something, Baekhyun?"

The hybrid nods, teeth now displayed and his eyes sparkling.

"Did you want something to eat, Baekhyun?" It's cloying, sweetly condescending. They do this every day, and every day at just this point, Baekhyun cracks.

"Oh, Junmyeon, pleaseeee. Can't I have a mint? I want a mint, pleasseeee."

Junmyeon laughs and pats the hybrid on the head. Baekhyun shakes his head away, but his eyes light up again when Junmyeon pulls out a plastic wrapped candy from the stash he keeps in his jacket pocket, and Baekhyun bounds off in success. He ends up hanging to the back of Yifan's chair when the men resume their previous discussion, his fingers laying distractingly across the span of Yifan’ shoulders. A few minutes later Baekhyun finds this boring, and he slinks down the side of the desk, his back to the drawers. He leans his head against Yifan's lap. Yifan doesn't even hesitate to pet him there, scratching behind his ears until the hybrid coos softly, almost snoring. Junmyeon finally takes a seat opposite Yifan as their discussion continues into the late morning, and Yifan barely notices Baekhyun crawling away until he hears a murmur of satisfaction. Baekhyun is now curled up in the vacated window seat, presumably to nap.

Yifan forces himself to look away from such a  charming picture. Clearing his throat, he asks Junmyeon, “What did we decide to do about Mr. Oh? He’s asking for better tools, isn’t he?”

Oh Sehun, the younger, lives with his elderly parents at the edge of the woods and is in charge of the sawmill as well as minor woodcutting for both the manor and the village. His work has decreased recently, due supposedly to the heavy rains and snow that have accelerated rusting on all his saws and axes.

“Oh yes, Mr. Oh,” Junmyeon sighs and scratches his nose. “We’ll have to give him what he asks. Rather petulant, that kid, but with his parents disabled there’s no one else to do the job he does.”

Yifan starts to write a memo and is interrupted by Baekhyun’s loud snort.

“Baekhyun?” he asks. “Is there something you’d like to add?”

The hybrid continues to smirk, but he doesn’t otherwise move from his perch. “Oh Sehun’s axes didn’t rust from the weather. I know for a fact he wastes time playing in the snow with the baker’s kid, seeing how far they can throw an axe. He’s just being lazy and slacking off.”

Yifan and Junmyeon stare at the hybrid.

“You know this, for sure?” the land manager asks.

“Sure. Sometimes I sneak around when I’m bored. Caught them once. Doing more than ‘throwing axes’ too, I might add.”

Baekhyun’s grin turns into another yawn and he twists around in the window seat until his back is facing the men. His two cents have been input and he doesn’t appear to care more about anything other than continuing his nap.

“Well… this is worth investigating,” says Junmyeon.

Yifan nods, wondering what else his hybrid gets up to when Yifan isn’t paying attention.

“Give Sehun an increase of allowance and tell him not to ruin the tools again.”

“And should I give him an extra meaningful glare?” Junmyeon smiles.

“Of course.” Yifan stares at Baekhyun one more time, the hybrid’s chest rising and falling evenly in his slumber. “Slacking off… What do you know about slacking off,” he mutters fondly. “All you do is run around or sleep.”

Without turning, Baekhyun whispers, “Whenever you have anything else for me to do, Yifan, let me know.” The hybrid chuckles softly and then says no  more.

He'll stay there until it's time for lunch, and then follow Yifan around again for the rest of the day. Just as he does most every day.

“Remind me to bill you for the mints, hmm, Yifan?” Junmyeon grins. “I have a feeling he might be earning more of those in the time to come.”

 


	3. Two

The air is crisp around them, Yifan riding on horseback through a foot of snow, Baekhyun huddled behind him, sheltered by Yifan’s larger frame. Despite both of them being dressed for the weather, it’s still cold and Baekhyun shivers. His fingers dig frantically at the sides of Yifan’s waist, as if falling off right now would be the worst of the worst. As if Yifan would let him fall.

They’re on the way to the barn enclosure to check on the animals. It’s a job Junmyeon could easily do, counting sheep, but Yifan prefers not to leave everything on the estate to his staff and retainers. Besides, he likes the exercise, and Baekhyun likes to get out, no matter how loud he complains about the cold. They’ve been cooped up indoors for the last several days, and Yifan finds it almost maddening to be constantly tripping over the hybrid wherever he turns.

One of the barns hands slides open the heavy door when they approach. Inside it’s warm, but it smells like damp wool and carefully tended sheep poop. Yifan scrunches his nose in distaste while he acclimates, but Baekhyun is all nose. Yifan lends him a hand and lets Baekhyun slip off the horse before Yifan dismounts. For the next ten minutes he doesn’t even see Baekhyun, the hybrid disappearing through the pens to inspect and explore.

“Baekhyun!” he calls when it’s time to go again. There’s no response except for the neighing of a few sheep. He tries again. “Baekhyun! Let’s go!”

A few seconds later he spots the hybrid scurrying through the pens, something fluffy carried in his arms.

“Yifan, look! Look what I found!”

It’s… Yifan gulps. Baekhyun’s hood has fallen back off his head. He bounds up, long ears flapping, a wide excited smile on his face. And in his arms is an actual puppy.

“Oh, you found the runt of the litter!” says the sheep handler. “We wondered where he’d skulked off to.”

“Yifan, can I keep him!?” asks Baekhyun.

There’s no saying no. Yifan knows this. The runt is a mutt, he suspects, a mixture of one of the shepherding dogs kept around the estate and a wandering sire. Mix-blood, and Yifan can’t help but think about Baekhyun, a hybrid bred somewhere else and then lost. Baekhyun won’t talk about his time before Yifan found him.

The two have an uncanny similarity in the way they tilt their heads. Baekhyun looking for approval, the puppy looking for acceptance. The small fluffy dog is pure white and almost as cute as Baekhyun himself.

“Can I call him Snowball?!” Baekhyun asks.

Yifan, despite never having answered the first question, nods his head, pretending he’s made of sterner stuff. When everybody knows he’s an absolute pushover.

  
  
 

“Baekhyun, we should talk,” says Yifan the next morning when he wakes up once more to the hybrid in his bed. He’s groggy and hasn’t had his coffee, yet he did wake up before Kyungsoo, namely because Baekhyun kicks in his sleep. Yifan doesn’t fancy acquiring even more bruises to the shin than he already has.

“Hmmm???? What?” Baekhyun yawns and rolls onto his back.

Yifan sits up and pushes the blanket down to reveal Baekhyun’s face. The hybrid squints at the cruel rays of sunlight.

“I said, wake up. There are some things we need to talk about.” Yifan sighs and pushes his bangs out of his face, rather dreading the coming day.

Baekhyun doesn’t seem to notice his mood.

“I left Snowball in my room,” he mumbles lazily, “just as you told me too.”

Yifan did indeed instruct him to not bring the animal to bed. Two puppies is more than he can surely handle.

“That’s…. thank you, Baekhyun. But that brings up the thing I need to talk to you about.”

Baekhyun finally opens his eyes, one hand shading himself from the light. “What is it?”

“I need you to go back to sleeping in your own bed,” Yifan delivers evenly.

Immediately Baekhyun scrambles to sit up on his elbows. “What? Why?” His expression drops, now fully awake. “Is it because I kick?! I’m sorry, I won’t do that again.”

“No, that’s not it.”

“Look, I even kept my shirt on last night!”

Yifan grimaces. “That’s not… look, Baekhyun, please-”

“Do you not want Kyungsoo to see?! I’ll sneak out before he gets here. I can train myself to wake up that early, Yifan-”

“Baekhyun, wait a second!” Yifan holds up a hand to stop the spew of the hybrid’s words. “It’s… It’ll only be for a couple of nights at least.”

“It… what?” Baekhyun blinks.

“My mother is coming today. She’ll be here a few days, but as long as she’s here, you need to sleep in your own room.”

Silence floods through the room as Baekhyun takes this in thoughtfully. “And then… when she’s gone I can come back? Promise?”

“Yes,” Yifan says without hesitation.

“Is… there anything else?”

Yifan sighs and leans back in the bed, truly not awake enough for this. How can he explain that the stigma of having a hybrid around is going to be completely bothersome to his mother, a stern woman with overly elevated principles. Growing up he wasn’t even allowed to have a real dog. Pesky things, a waste of time and food, she said.

She’ll be upset enough about Baekhyun, and Yifan intends to weather that, but he can’t help observe how Baekhyun is so very - there’s no other word to say it - very dog-like.

“Yifan?”

Case in point: now that Yifan looks upset, Baekhyun is picking up on it. He lays down beside him, inching closer until their sides are touching. With his ears flapped over, butt angled so that his tail isn’t pinned down, he twists and curls until his head lays closer to Yifan’s armpit. Yifan lifts his arm to wrap around the hybrid’s head and exhales very, very slowly.

“Yifan, I’ll be super good, don’t worry about me. You don’t even know I’m here,” Baekhyun whispers with a smile.

“You don’t have to hide, Baekhyun. Just, be aware that she doesn’t like hybrids, okay?”

“Okay.”

They lay there for a few more minutes until Baekhyun’s wiggling and fidgeting prompts Yifan to ask what’s the matter.

Baekhyun grins. “Just enjoying this while I can.”

“Mhmmph,” Yifan grunts. A moment later though he reaches other with his unoccupied hand ruffle Baekhyun’s hair, and the hybrid instead drags it lower.

“Rub my belly, please?”

If Baekhyun was a cat, Yifan thinks he’d probably be purring right now. And if Yifan weren’t petrified of the impending visit, he’d probably take more delight in how soft Baekhyun’s tummy feels beneath the light cotton shirt he wears to bed. He rubs his hand in small circles, mesmerized by how tiny Baekhyun seems next to the breadth of Yifan’s hand and fingers. The hybrid twitches happily, one leg and then another jolting as if overtaken by sparks of electricity.

Yifan holds his breath, listening to every sound, every light moan.

How is that Baekhyun feels like he belongs here? And not just here, in Yifan’s home, but here within his arms? Baekhyun’s whimpers sound mostly similar to a dog’s soft panting, but when Yifan accidentally grazes a little too low, close to the seems of Baekhyun’s soft pants, Baekhyun’s eyes open and the low guttural whine sounds distinctly human.

Yifan pulls away with only a few seconds to spare, and then Kyungsoo knocks, quickly entering the room.

“Good morning, sir,” quips his servant blandly.

“M-Morning, Kyungsoo. Is that coffee? Truly, I need some coffee today.”

“Double strength this morning, and no cream. I checked specifically. Is… Is Baekhyun alright, sir?”

Yifan looks, realizing belatedly that the hybrid has rolled over and pulled the blanket completely over his head.

“He… yes,” Yifan answers. “Just, slow to wake today.”

As Kyungsoo leaves the room, Yifan pulls himself out of bed and begins to guzzle his coffee. He leaves Baekhyun where he is and putters about. It’s going to take a lot of focus to clear his mind and start the day, everything considered. He barely notices Baekhyun’s soft sigh of exasperation when he walks out a minute later.

  
  
  
 

"You didn't tell me you got a hybrid, Yifan." His mother's pronouncement is sharp and critical and comes not minutes after her arrival on the estate.

"He's only recently come to live with me, mother," Yifan replies.

His parent's visit is usually a stressful affair, but this visit promises to be twice as difficult. As soon as her luggage was unpacked from the motor and carried away, Kyungsoo directing the other servants, she'd turned upon her son, cold grey eyes and tightly coiled grey hair pulled into a bun with a magnificently horrid hair pin. The way she squints makes her look like an aging bird, not exactly menacing but still a force to be reckoned with. She has Yifan’s nose and cheekbones, a good deal of his own height, but everything else, including Yifan’s unassuming personality, comes from his father.

She doesn’t speak to Baekhyun except to stare at him, frown, and then look away. Baekhyun hasn’t said anything, but he does stand stiffly behind Yifan with this his hands clasped together, and his tail oddly still.

"Just recently?” she muses, and then stares at Baekhyun again. “And I hope he shall soon leave in the very same manner?"  

"Uhh," says Yifan. "Unlikely."

Only the upward angle of Baekhyun’s left ears betrays that he’s intently listening.

"What? Do you mean to keep him? Preposterous."

Without waiting for an answer, she about-faces, the hem of her traveling gown swishing across the floor. A good gust of snowy wind followed her in, and as they leave the foyer, the servants enter behind promptly to mop the floor.

Yifan follows her on her ritual sweep of the household to be sure everything appears properly maintained. Since her late husband's passing, she resides in town with the rest of fashionable society, but a family estate is not something one leaves merely to decay. Nor is a young squire's propriety, and Yifan doesn't doubt she views housing a hybrid dog as potentially ruining that propriety.

"These rugs don't look properly washed, Yifan. You must tell that head servant whatever his name is to see to it. They are shameful. Almost too shameful to be seen."

"Yes, mother."

"Positively downtrodden. I'm sure the dog doesn't help matters. Don't they often run about, muddying up the place?"

"Baekhyun doesn't muddy anything, mother. He cleans his shoes outside the house just like everyone does."

She halts her footsteps, and Yifan freezes. Baekhyun follows and stops on the dime, and when Yifan glances at him, the boy beams delightedly at the compliment. His tail wags once, twice, and then goes limp.

"Yifan, you can't be serious."

"About what, mother?"

Seconds ago she appeared only mildly concerned. Now, however, Yifan can see she means proper business. He hurries them both along to the parlor in order to avoid a hallway-public debate. The short reprieve does nothing to alleviate her disdain. Once the tea and tea cakes been served, and their stomachs satisfied, she turns her gaze harshly upon her son.

"I feared you might be obstinate. Fine, answer my questions then. When and where did you find him?"

"In the village recently."

"And what is his pedigree?"

"Collie? I think." Yifan ponders this while glancing at the hybrid's face. Baekhyun is all ears, curiosity mapped across his face, but his mouth is completely silent, posture upright and correct.

"So, you don't know." His mother hums disapprovingly. "Age?"

"Nineteen."

"And where does he sleep?"

"He... he has his own bedroom, mother. If you are so eager to ask these questions, why not ask him yourself?"

"My son, if I'd wanted to talk to an animal, I'd buy a parrot."

Baekhyun's ears noticeably deflate. Yifan is torn between sending him out of the room to avoid insult, but he worries also that Baekhyun will only sulk and be worried in private. It’s not only now that Yifan recognizes these feelings, but he’s terribly concerned about hurting or upsetting his charge. Baekhyun may be a hybrid, and their relationship is very undefined, but Yifan cares about him, a lot. He feels responsible for him, more than just that; he _wants_ to be responsible. Yifan wants to make Baekhyun happy.

And there’s no point trying to explain this to his mother.

She appears sulkier by the minute, actually trying to stare Yifan down, as if her glare will make him relent and suddenly agree to kick Baekhyun out into the snow.

He wins the staring match, and she humphs loudly.

“Fine. Keep your pet. I’m told they’re very fashionable accessories amongst the bohemians in town, not that those sort ever get invited to dinner parties.”

“Thank you, mother.” Yifan betrays not one ounce of the distaste he feels about her description. He tries to picture Baekhyun as just an accessory, and fails.

“And anyway, you might as well enjoy it while it lasts.”

“I’m sorry?” Yifan says.

“You heard me.” His mother smiles haughtily. “He’s sure to go as soon as you’re married. After all, what nicely brought up young lady would want such a thing around. Speaking of that, I’ve met with the neighboring estate about the engagement, now that you’re old enough now. Twenty-seven’s a fine age to be married at, don’t you think?”

 


	4. Three

Dinner is a very solemn affair, mainly because Yifan’s mother spends the entire meal gloating to herself and Baekhyun is nowhere to be seen. The hybrid excused himself after tea as soon as he could, skirting out the door with nary a word to Yifan. It’s unusual that Baekhyun misses a meal, even more unusual that he isn’t speaking.

Yifan checks his watch, now registering three hours since he last caught a glimpse of Baekhyun and his fluffy tail.

“My dear, you must consider the match.” His mother is steady talking about his upcoming engagement. It sounds like a done deal except Yifan isn’t so sure. All other things aside, he doesn’t feel ready for marriage and he didn’t expect the topic to come up so soon.

“She’s a lovely woman. I feel sure that you will like her.”

“What? Mother, I’m sorry, I missed what you said.”

She tips her nose down and glares at Yifan across the table. “Obviously, you did.”

Yifan fidgets as she again takes up the extremely one-sided conversation. He catches a footman’s eye while she fusses, calling the man over and asking him in whispered tones to inquire about Baekhyun’s whereabouts. If Baekhyun is eating in the kitchen, or else sulking in his room starving to death, Yifan wants to know.  

The door to the dining room shuts behind the man just as his mother bangs on the tabletop to get his attention.

“Yes?” he pales before her near wrath. “I’m sorry. Who did you say…?”

“Miss Liu, my dear. I’ve been talking about Miss Liu. A wonderfully charming girl, by all the accounts I’ve had. I shall set up a dinner with our neighbors next week-”

“Miss Liu?” Yifan barks incredulously. He rattles his brain to put a face to the name, pausing short on the image of a little girl he hasn’t seen in well over a decade. “Do you mean Miss Amber Liu?” he asks.

“The very same,” she informs him.

Amber Liu, his neighbor's daughter. As children they were friends, romping through the fields together. Yifan was always scolded heartily by both sets of parents when Amber returned home covered in dirt and mud. For some reason they always blamed Yifan for leading the girl into one mishap after another, never considering that it was the adventurous spirit of their ‘precious miss’ that got Yifan into trouble instead.

He can’t imagine being married to her, although she’ll be much older now. Amber was twelve when her parents sent her away to finishing school, and Yifan was just fourteen. He wonders idly if she approves of hybrids. He wonders not so idly if Baekhyun would approve of her.

“Saturday, next week. Yifan, aren’t you listening to me?”

“What, mother?”

She sighs and then repeats the date. Next Saturday Yifan is expected at the Liu’s estate to ‘discuss matrimony’.

So soon? Yifan panics. Inside his ears comes a buzzing noise, insistent and urgent. He doesn’t want to get married. He doesn’t want to go to dinner. He just wants to be left alone to manage his estate, earn enough money to pay his staff, keep his tenants well provided for, and otherwise spend lazy afternoons with Baekhyun…

Since when did the hybrid suddenly factor so much into his future?

The door opens in a moment later, Yifan looking up, expecting the return of the footman. It is indeed him, but he looks mildly harassed. A crashing noise follows close behind, and Yifan turns his attention to the hallway beyond. The footman was being chased, a snowy white ball of fluff snarling playfully at his heels.

“Snowball, no!” comes Baekhyun’s cries beyond. “Snowball, wait! No no no, don’t do that!”

“Sir!” says the footman, apologetically alarmed.

Across the table, Yifan’s mother stands up, her eyes open wide and horrified.

Snowball dances across the footman’s boots, rolls and slides across the floor and leaps to his paws in a matter of seconds. Then it senses the presence of others, the presence of food. He leaps towards Yifan’s mother, and Yifan watches as if in slow motion, the puppy jumping towards her gown, Baekhyun darting right behind it.

There’s a terrible shriek as his mother recoils. Yifan stands up just as she falls back into her chair, Snowball leaping into her lap. It’s the scene of some pantomime performance Yifan has seen before. Wails and dramatics. It should be comedy, except this is real.

“Snowball, bad dog!” Baekhyun shouts, and the puppy barks in response, scrambling to run away before it can be scolded by its owner.

Unfortunately, Snowball jumps away while Baekhyun pounces. And, he misses.

Yifan’s mother flips back in her chair screaming, the table cloth slips off the surface, plates, cups and utensils scattering away. Food flies into the air, the footmen yells for help. More servants flood into the room as Yifan runs to get his mother to her feet.

“Baekhyun!” he yells at the hybrid. Yifan doesn’t even know why he did. But Snowball is long gone, the room is in chaos, his mother is wailing, and only Baekhyun remains on his hands and knees covered in food from his missed attempt to corner the puppy. Half the tablecloth lays draped across his head, and his expression is one of terrible guilt.

It turns from guilt to hurt the moment Yifan shouts; if he could take it back he would, but right now he has to see to his filial duties and help his mother.

“Find the puppy and please, wait somewhere else,” Yifan amends, crouching down with several of the servants to pull his mother off the floor. She screams and screeches, mostly at Yifan and then some at Baekhyun, abusing every race of dog from pureblood to hybrid.

Yifan almost misses it, but Baekhyun is undoubtedly crying when he runs from the room, ears turned back, tail between his legs.

  
  
  


“You will get rid of that animal.”

His mother’s words echo through Yifan’s mind even several hours later.

“I’m sorry, mother.”

“I am leaving first thing in the morning, and will not be back, as long as that… thing remains here.”

“Of course, mother. I’ll see that your car is brought around first thing in the morning.”

“What?!”

If occurs to Yifan that his mother never considered he wouldn’t do as she asked, and order Baekhyun to leave. Apologies mean nothing now. He leaves her to her room so she can fume in peace, assured well enough that she hasn’t suffered any lasting injury other than to her pride.

He still hasn’t had time to find Baekhyun though, or Snowball. Once his mother has beent aken care of, Yifan tracks down the servants instead, overseeing the cleaning of the dining room, making a note for Junmyeon to have any of the broken dishes replaced as soon as conveniently possible. It takes nearly the rest of the evening.

“Evening, Kyungsoo,” says Yifan, when he's finally able to return to his room.

“Evening, sir. Quite a dinner, as I’ve heard.”

“Yes.” Yifan looks around solemnly. He'd kind of like to forget about the dinner and see to the hybrid now. “Where is Baekhyun?”

“Hasn’t been to this part of the wing all day, sir.”

The hour is late. Yifan rarely ever readies for bed without the hybrid’s presence. It used to make him uncomfortable, Baekhyun laying on the bed while Yifan undressed, watching him curiously. Baekhyun would pretend he wasn't looking, but he never tried hard enough. He was always peeking, quite obviously too, from under his arm. Tonight though, as Yifan unbuttons his collar and cuffs, Kyungsoo standing ready to hang both coat and shirt, it’s oddly quiet.

“Kyungsoo, if he hasn’t been here all day, then where is he?”

“Possibly in his own room, sir. Where you asked him to sleep.”

Yifan stares at the man. Was that, disapproval? From a servant? Kyungsoo holds his gaze steadily, however, eliciting no further sign of insubordination.

“Thank you, Kyungsoo. I shall finish up on my own tonight.” Yifan dismisses the man. He waits until he leaves, starts to unbutton his pants, and then thinks better of it.

 

 

 

“Baekhyun?”

Three knocks on the door, and there is no answer.

“Baekhyun?” Yifan knocks again. “Are you alright?”

He puts his ear to the door, listening for any sounds. He thinks he can hear sniffling, and it absolutely tears at his heart.

He turns the knob, shocked to discover it is locked. “Baekhyun? It’s Yifan. Please, open up?”

The sniffling inside stops, Baekhyun presumably turning silent. But he doesn’t open the door.

  
  
  


Several days later, Junmyeon notes the hybrid’s strange absence from the study while they work.

“You’re missing your shadow today,” he says.

Yifan grunts in response.

“Is Baekhyun ill?” Junmyeon teases. He drops his grin when Yifan glares at him, asking instead, “Are you ill?”

Again, Yifan grunts.

It’s true he hasn’t slept well the past few nights. His mother’s visit threw everything off schedule, then her departure made everyone disgruntled. But still, for the last two nights, Baekhyun has made himself scarce, never materializing in Yifan’s bed, and worst still, never showing up in Yifan’s presence.

He was worried after the first day that Baekhyun had run away. He sent Kyungsoo to look after him, relieved when his servant came back and reported that the hybrid was still in his room with his puppy, but that both were still getting their meals by virtue of the tree outside Baekhyun’s windows. Cook was happily feeding both of them in the kitchen when Yifan wasn’t around. How Baekhyun managed to climb down that tree with a puppy in his arms was a sight Yifan could not fathom. Two dogs climbing a tree; it would be easier if Baekhyun would just open his door and take the stairs.

“He’s been… avoiding me, since the other night,” Yifan confesses.

“Since the disaster with your mother?” Junmyeon clicks his tongue. “Haven’t you gone and apologized yet? Yifan, that boy adores you. He’s probably extremely hurt that you yelled at him.”

Yifan slumps back in his chair. “I would apologize! If he’d just come out, or let me see him.”

“How hard have you tried to see him then?”

“He purposefully skulks about the place hiding from me, and when he's not doing that, he locks himself in his room. Do you want to lie in wait around every corner, or get a key and invade his privacy?”

“Why not? He does that to you all the time, doesn’t he?” Junmyeon laughs for a moment, then says, “No, no, you’re right. But you must try something different soon.”

Yifan exhales loudly, cradling his head between his hands, elbows propped up on the desk. “Why is everything so complicated? I shouldn’t have yelled at him.”

Junmyeon pats him lightly on the shoulder. “No, but what’s done is done. Talk to him. Make him understand you’re not mad.”

“I’m not mad,” Yifan repeats, more to himself than to Junmyeon. “I’m not mad. It was just… the heat of the moment.”

“Indeed,” says the manager. “And besides, I heard that it was a great riot, your mother flipping back in her chair like that.” He chuckles softly until Yifan lowers his hands and stares.

“Who told you that? Who said that was funny?!”

“No one! Of course, no one would… say that. Which of your servants would… dare… laugh at your mother, making a spectacle of herself.”

“Obviously, you would,” Yifan declares. “You are laughing. To my face, I might add.” He wants to be angry, but the one great benefit to time - other than the overall mess of that night’s great, eventful dinner - is that it puts a different perspective on what, in the moment, was horrifying.

“I suppose it was though,” Yifan concedes, chuckling just a bit. “My poor mother… I’m still not sending Baekhyun away. No matter what she says.”

“No? Well then, by all means, _tell_ him so,” says Junmyeon. “No doubt that’s what he’s worried about. And on top of that, well, there is the matter of your,” he coughs, “engagement?”

“Noooo,” Yifan moans. “Don’t remind me. Please don’t remind me.”

 


	5. Four

As it turns out, finding Baekhyun the same evening is harder than it looks. Yifan scours the entire house looking for the hybrid, but apart from discovering rooms and corridors he’d forgotten existed, there’s no Baekhyun to be seen. Every servant he asks says they saw him recently, they just don’t know where he is right now.

Yifan goes to bed alone once again, lonely and dejected. He wonders if this is a little like what Baekhyun feels too.

In the morning, there’s still no Baekhyun, but Kyungsoo - after passing him along his cup of coffee, gives him one cryptic hint.

“He’s a Collie, sir.”

“What?” says Yifan, barely comprehending anything farther than the tip of his nose.

“Baekhyun, sir. He’s a Collie, a herding dog.”

Yifan paces through the room as if in a fog. “And?”

“Sir, far be it my place to remind you of this, perhaps, but… you have sheep.”

An hour later once Yifan is dressed and fed - he barely even tasted his breakfast - he deciphers the complicated message. Immediately he heads for the stables and saddles the horse himself, too impatient to wait on his staff to do it for him. The barn where they found Snowball is a ten minute ride away. His horse wades through almost half a foot of snow, but it pains Yifan to see that he’s following along a path paved earlier on foot. Was that Baekhyun, trampling through the snow on his own?

He smells the sheep before he sees him. The heavy barn doors on this side of the building are open, the sheep grazing outside and in the fenced-in pens leading down the hill. A few other horses are tethered just inside, one of which Yifan hasn’t seen in nearly a month. Did this mean, Minseok is finally back?

“Squire Yifan!”

Yifan turns towards the open barn, steadies the horse alongside it and hops down. With a grand smile he greets his nearly returned head shepherd.

“Minseok, you’re back! How was the animal exhibition?”

He shakes his hand warmly, gloves frigid from the amount of collected frost, happy to see Minseok but anxious to find someone else.

“Most educating. I learned a great many new things. I shall come in this week and discuss some techniques with you and Junmyeon, is that alright?”

“It is. Please, I look forward to it.”

He scans the pens above Minseok’s head. Only the young lambs are housed inside, a few ewes milling about. The rest of the herd braves the wintry weather, snow piling up on their heavy woolen coats. The other staff hand is shouting among them, urging a few to get up and move around.

“Everything going well here?” Yifan asks.

“Excellently. Everything is fine, no major mishaps. Oh, and I’ve met your new hybrid, Baekhyun. That’s his name right? Showed up here a few days ago according to my other man. Does a splendid job with the herd. Quite the natural. You picked a great breed for this kind of work.”

“Baekhyun’s… here?” The back of Yifan’s throat convulses, nearly causing him to choke.

“Yes,” says Minseok, a little worried. “Didn’t you send him here? He’s been showing up every morning. Him and his puppy, who I think will also be good shepherding dog with a little training. I… only met him last evening when I arrived. I thought you… Is he not supposed to be here then?”

“No, no,” Yifan quickly responds. “He’s perfectly alright here. I… I’m glad he’s finding something to do. Though I didn’t purchase him for the herd. He just kind of… showed up in the village and I took him home.”

His voice squeaks and Minseok gives him a particularly appraising look, as if he can read Yifan’s mind. Perhaps he can. Minseok has worked around the estate for even longer than Yifan remembers, first as an apprentice when they were both teenagers, and then as the head shepherd after his mentor retired. Yifan’s impression of Minseok was always of a shrewd young man, intelligent and rather playful when he’s in his element, good to his staff and animals alike. And Yifan takes a sudden dislike to the idea that maybe Baekhyun could get too easily attached to him, as opposed to Yifan.

He clears his throat, willing away such thoughts.

“If you’re here to see him, he’s down at the bottom of the hill. I’ll tether your horse, you go down and see him.” Minseok claps him on the back. Yifan awaits for no further invitation.

He finds Baekhyun a few minutes later. It’s a little like coming home. The hybrid is dressed in the warmest clothes he owns, furry hood hanging down off his shoulders, ears flopping gently in the freezing breeze. The best part still is the smile on his face when he urges several of the lazier sheep up off the icy ground. Mud and melted snow stain his britches up to the waist, but he looks so happy, so resourceful.

“Baekhyun?” he calls out.

Instantly, the hybrid’s ears drop low and he looks up in alarm.

“Y-Yifan?”

“Found you at last,” Yifan says with a smile.

Snowball crawls out from behind Baekhyun’s feet and barks once with an excited yip. Baekhyun, however, looks anything but excited. Worried in fact, and scared.

“I… I hope you don’t mind. I just wanted something to do and Snowball gets into too much trouble in the house as you… know. Is your mother alright? I’m really really really sorry, I didn’t mean to cause chaos and-”

“Baekhyun,” Yifan interrupts him, smiling gently again.

“What? Are you still angry? Please, I won’t do it again. I won’t even come near the house if you don’t want us there. I can stay out here. Minseok is really nice, and he says he has another bed in his house and-”

“Baekhyun! Please, stop apologizing.”

“But I- oomph,” his breath stops out when Yifan hugs him. Snowball yips again, but with Baekhyun firmly encased against his chest, Yifan feels the last three days’ buildup of stress slowly leaking away.

Baekhyun doesn’t say anything. Yifan worries that he shocked him too much, but then he feels the hybrid’s ears slotting against his neck, nose buried in his arms. The back of Baekhyun’s long work coat starts twitching, a steady back and forth wagging of his covered-up tail.

He could stay like this forever, comfortable, happy. Warm, despite the weather.

Then Snowball begins to gnaw on the edge of his boot.

Baekhyun backs away in fright. “Snowball, no!” He bends down and wrangles the puppy into his arms, looking about to bolt, except that Yifan laughs.

“Baekhyun, it’s alright. It’s a puppy, it needs some training, but I’m not mad. Not at you or at Snowball, for anything.”

“Really?” Baekhyun’s tail starts to wag again. “But, your mother… she said you should send me away and-”

“I’m not sending you away Baekhyun. It doesn’t matter what she says.”

“Really?” Baekhyun says again.

“Really. Now. Tell me all about shepherding, since I hear you enjoy it so much.”

  
  
  
 

Going to sleep that night is even better, Baekhyun’s body tucked under the covers, only his ears poking out and his tail tickling Yifan’s legs. Baekhyun has never quite approved of the pillow, preferring instead the comfort of the middle of the bed.

Yifan rolls over and strokes the hybrid’s shoulder. He gets a tail thump in response, then a sort murmur.

“Hey Baekhyun?” he whispers.

“Hmm?”

“You know, you can always sleep here, right?”

On a basket on the floor on Baekhyun’s side of the bed, Yifan even allowed Snowball to sleep.

“I can?” Baekhyun asks.

“Yeah.”

“What about… when you get married?”

Yifan gulps, having temporarily forgotten that part of his dilemma. He doesn’t want to think about it, doesn’t want to think about a time when Baekhyun may not be allowed to follow him everywhere he goes. And it hasn’t even happened yet. It’s in Yifan’s head to just ignore it until he finds a reason not to, but that won’t do for Baekhyun right now.

“I… don’t know yet.”

Baekhyun doesn’t say anything, but he does move a few seconds later, curling into a little ball facing away from Yifan. He’s tempted to move closer, maybe curl around the sleeping hybrid, but Yifan has never been the one to initiate cuddling before. Usually that’s Baekhyun’s move, somewhere in the middle of the night when Yifan is defenseless.

“Baekhyun?” he whispers again.

It takes longer for the hybrid to respond this time. His voice is soft and sleepy. “What?”

“Do you… want to go with me?”

“Go where?” Baekhyun turns and angles his head over his shoulder. Yifan can make out his sleepy, blinking eyes in the near darkness.

“To that dinner this weekend.”

Baekhyun blinks again and rolls over completely. “To meet your neighbor?”

“Yes.”

“I asked Minseok about her.”

“Amber?” Yifan is surprised Baekhyun even asked.

“Yes. He said she was a nice girl, the last time he saw her.”

“Did he?” Yifan chuckles. He remembers specifically how Amber would torture Minseok even more than she tortured Yifan. “It’s been a long time since either one of us have seen her. We were all kids back then.”

“Do you want to marry her then?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe not. But I still have to go to that dinner and meet her.”

Baekhyun sighs. “Obligations and all, right?”

“Something like that. But you can come with me. Meet her for yourself.”

“What if I don’t like her though? Will you not marry her?”

Yifan’s breath hitches, straining the back of his throat. He can’t answer that, even if he knows vaguely what his answer would be.

“I don’t know,” he says again. “But let’s not worry about any of that right now, okay? Let’s sleep. It’s late.”

Baekhyun tries to roll over again, but this time Yifan keeps him from twisting. He doesn’t want to sleep by himself on his side of the bed, alone. And he’s not certain, the way things stand right now, if Baekhyun will want to attach himself to Yifan in the night. Instead, he carefully holds him in place, inviting him further. Baekhyun’s eyes open wider in the darkness and then he gets it. He moves slowly, like through water, until he’s right up against Yifan’s chest, planting his forehead into the center of Yifan’s nightshirt, one hand tucked between them, the other sliding gently around his lower back.

Yifan sighs, happily, even if he has no idea if he can fall asleep like this. A minute later, those fears are compounded further when Baekhyun twitches and tangles their legs together. Perhaps he is almost asleep, but the hybrid’s leg finds its way between Yifan’s, soft thigh pressing dangerously high between Yifan’s.

Yifan jolts, and Baekhyun responds in kind, accidentally brushing his leg right against Yifan’s crotch before he realizes what he’s done.

“Ohh. Sorry,” the hybrid whispers. He retreats just a few inches lower than where he started, but Yifan has a longer time than ever trying to go to sleep.

 

 

 

“What’s the matter with you?” Junmyeon asks the next morning, when Yifan drags into their morning meeting. “You look like you didn’t sleep a wink.”

“I didn’t,” Yifan admits.

“Anything particularly the matter?”

Yifan sinks down behind his desk, considering all his life choices right up to the moment he saw Baekhyun shivering in the cold next to the fountain in the village. He particularly thinks about afterwards, the month since then that he’s housed a hybrid in his house and then his bed.

“Yes,” he says curtly.

He dares a glance at his land manager, Junmyeon sporting a clever, raised eyebrow. Then he checks the door, satisfied that the hybrid probably won't pop in for at least an hour yet.

“I think I like Baekhyun.”


	6. Five

In the following days leading up to ‘the dinner’ - as Yifan starts calling the dreaded date - he begins to notice a marked difference in how Baekhyun conducts his time. At night still, there’s no question about where Baekhyun sleeps, or how close he gets. Yifan has stopped looking at himself in the mirror for fear of the dark circles growing beneath his eyelids, but when Baekhyun asks him whether he’s getting enough proper sleep or not, Yifan waves him away. The hybrid frowns and tries to touch his face in concern, and he suggests that maybe Yifan needs to take afternoon naps like he sometimes does, but it only makes Yifan chuckle.

He’s very aware now, of everything he feels for Baekhyun. Always wanting to know where he is, if he’s busy, if he’s not, if he’s out in the field. Is he too cold, or does Yifan need to get him some more wintry clothes? Did he get enough to eat at breakfast? Is there a kind of food he prefers more? He thinks almost that he should order some books from town about the hybrid race. Yifan is already so lacking in knowledge, and he wonders what else he could be forgetting, or lacking in care just because he doesn’t know any better.

Most of the things though he’s learning as they go, and some of that may be related to Baekhyun himself, and not his breed. For instance, that Baekhyun is sharp and attentive, and extremely intelligent. Minseok has already praised his learning curve with handling the sheep and other outdoor matters. Then there are the times when Baekhyun sits in listening to Yifan and Junmyeon talk, and every day he sucks in new information, spouting out more opinions that when Yifan and Junmyeon stop to hear him out, they find his comments quite eye-opening.

“Baekhyun!” Yifan calls out to him in the hall on Saturday morning. For once, the hybrid wasn’t in his bed when Yifan woke up, though his spot was still warm. “Where’re you off to? Where’ve you been?”

The hybrid skids around the corner and spin-stops delightedly. “Yifan! I missed you already!”

Baekhyun prances back towards him and catches Yifan around the middle, thin arms wrangling Yifan’s arms to hug him back. It’s brief, but dramatic. Yifan’s breath gets stuck in the pit of his stomach, chin nudging the top of Baekhyun’s ears before the hybrid pulls away with a beautiful grin. “You… what was that for?”

“Because I didn’t get morning cuddles. Sorry, Yifan! I have to go back out-”

“Have you already been outside?” Yifan asks incredulously. It’s barely eight in the morning.

Baekhyun tries to waltz away, but as their arms slide apart, Yifan catches him instinctively around the wrist, willing him to stay close. Baekhyun’s ears dance and his whole body seems to wiggle as he stares. Then he smiles, twists his wrist to pull himself free, but instead of walking away, he holds Yifan’s hand instead.

“Of course I have. Wanted to get my work done earlier today since tonight we’re… we’re going to… you know.”

Yifan knows, oh Yifan definitely knows. He also knows that Baekhyun is holding his hand, and his palm is starting to sweat from the touch of him. Baekhyun begins to sway his arm, back and forth, quite mindful that Yifan is attached. By the look on his face, it might be the grandest game Baekhyun’s ever played. He looks pleased with himself, and Yifan can only hope that his discomfiture isn’t showing on his face.

“Ah yes, tonight. Well, is there a reason you’re making yourself extra productive today?” he asks, partly to throw off his giddy unease.

“Yes, no,” says Baekhyun lightly. “Just making sure you won’t think me a bum. I can pull my weight around here, like everyone!”

He smiles, but for the first time in days Yifan detects something worrying in the second-long frozen look in the hybrid’s eyes, before he blinks and shakes it away.

Baekhyun wants to be useful… Baekhyun’s purposefully finding things to do, in order to be useful. And it’s not for something as simple as wanting to please Yifan. Baekhyun wants to be counted useful around the estate, so that he doesn’t get kicked out…

Junmyeon hinted as much several days ago, but Yifan wasn’t completely convinced. Then Minseok mentioned it offhand, Baekhyun’s work ethic and desire to be industrious. The hybrid, in between working with Minseok and following Yifan around, and bothering Junmyeon for candies, has in the past two days visited every corner of the estate, snow and all, visiting and meeting the tenants, just to say hi. So he says. Then he keeps Yifan up to date on anecdotal stories, sometimes keeping him awake later at night, curled up in his side recounting the people he met.

‘Have you met Mrs. Park? Oh you do know her? You know she’s widowed, right. I was thinking of visiting her again next week to help cut some firewood. She’ll probably run out soon…’

‘Oh, you already have some who does that? But…’

‘So I followed Sehun again today! You’ll be happy to know he isn’t quite slacking off… not like before.’

'See, it's good to have someone like who goes around like this!'

‘Hahaha, the cottagers' kids are so cute! We play games, and they try to catch my tail, but I’m too fast for them. Oh, except for that one kid. I was hiding, and Chen snuck up behind me and… ouch, what are you doing, Yifan?’

‘Making sure your tail’s still attached. Wouldn’t be you without it…’

‘Yifan, ahhh stop that tickles!! Ahhh you’re squishing me!!’

‘Your fault you sleep in the middle of the bed!’

‘Then fine, I’ll sleep on the floor with Snowball!’

‘You better not. You’ll be too cold, and then I’ll have a sick puppy… Come here.’

 

That was last night, and Yifan blushes just remembering it now.

Baekhyun is still holding his hand, ears twitching cutely.

“Baekhyun…” Yifan’s voice feels stuck in his throat.

“Hmm? What?”

“Baekhyun… don’t… don’t overwork yourself. I want you to rest too, alright? Just because we’re going to that dinner thing later doesn’t mean you… should miss your afternoon nap, okay?” Yifan laughs, trying hard to play off his concern.

Baekhyun’s tail flounces twice as faster than usual, and he grins. “Oh don’t worry, I’ve still got time later for a quick snooze. See you after lunch, Yifan!”

 

 

Yifan doesn’t see him until it’s nearly time to get dressed. He finds the hybrid slumped before the roaring fireplace in Yifan’s study, passed out, dirt smudging his face, breath even but peaceful even in his deep, sprawling sleep.

“Baekhyun?” he nudges the hybrid’s side gently, whispering softly.

For answer, Baekhyun snoozes on. He looks so tired, so exhausted, and since Yifan hasn’t seen him all day and he smells like snow and sheep and sawdust, he guesses Baekhyun has worked himself to the bone. If only he didn’t have to wake him up… However, he knows that won’t do. If Baekhyun wakes up and Yifan has already gone, he’ll never be able to come home and see his puppy’s sad and devastated face.

He tries once more to wake him up. Nothing happens, so Yifan steels his muscles and slides his arms beneath the sleeping hybrid’s body. Baekhyun is so light in his arms, so tiny. Yifan hefts him up once to get a tighter grip, and Baekhyun whimpers in his sleep, curling towards Yifan’s chest. His hands paw lightly against Yifan’s shirt, then clench tightly in his fists when Yifan takes the stairs.

All the while he talks to him, saying his name, wishing to wake him up gently.

“Baekhyun? Wake up, my Baekhyun.”

He kicks open the door of his bedroom suite and edges through the frame backwards, mindful of Baekhyun's limbs. Kyungsoo meets him with a stunned expression.

“Sir?”

“Is the bath ready?” Yifan whispers.

“Yes. I… Do you need… help, sir?”

Yifan shakes his head and walks by him, passing the bed and open clothes wardrobe where Kyungsoo has already aired out Yifan’s dinner suit and jacket.

“Bring me clothes for Baekhyun though?” Yifan calls out as he passes through the door to the washroom.

He shakes Baekhyun a little, pleased by the rumblings confirming the hybrid is waking up. He sets him down on a wooden chest beside the bath, sliding him off his lap but supporting his body.

“Whhat?” Baekhyun yawns and almost falls over.

“Time to wake up. You need a bath. Unless you don’t want to go with me to dinner tonight?”

Yifan pauses, his hands at the bottom of Baekhyun’s shirt, about to lift it over his torso. Baekhyun blinks rapidly, still disoriented. He yawns again, and then recognizes where they are. Yifan follows his gaze as it drops down to his stomach, to Yifan’s hands where his fingers linger lightly against his skin, waiting.

Baekhyun shivers. But he picks up his head, sees the warm bath water and nods once, quickly. He doesn’t meet Yifan’s eyes, but he’s still too uncoordinated to stand up or strip. Yifan tries not to look at him, at least in any one spot in particularly. He pulls Baekhyun’s shirt over his head. It musses his hair and Baekhyun looks distinctly ruffled and annoyed, but he doesn’t push Yifan away. He kicks off his shoes and socks, toes crinkling in the soft fringe of the rug at his feet.

“Can you stand up?” Yifan asks, hoping to survive this. Baekhyun is so thin and pale, only his belly paunching a tiny bit over his pants. He’s sitting on his tail. It whacks Yifan in the face when he stands up, and Yifan moves to stand up too, still halfway supporting the wobbling, tired hybrid.

Baekhyun’s hands pause for half a second at his pants. He still doesn’t look at Yifan, but he says in a soft albeit definitive voice, “I got this.”

He doesn’t ask him to go though. In fact, when Yifan tries to back away, loosing his hands from where they hold Baekhyun’s shoulders, he stumbles again and Yifan rushes to keep him steady. From there on, he keeps his head up, eyes fixed on a point across the room, well above Baekhyun’s shoulder. Well above where the hybrid is struggling to get his tail and his legs out of his dirtied work trousers.

Yifan only looks around when he hears the water sloshing, Baekhyun slinking all the way into the large tub until just his head and ears are visible. The room is warm from the heated water, but Yifan feels frozen in place. Between him and Baekhyun are strewn all the clothes the hybrid was wearing. He waits a minute before peering down carefully, just to make sure Baekhyun isn’t about to pass out again and drown.

He’s faced with a tiny smile, barely there. Far from falling asleep, Baekhyun is lazily reclining in the tub, pouring water over his face, head and ears.

“B-Better?” Yifan asks awkwardly. He feels so very large, hovering over the tub like he is.

“Yes. Almost.” Baekhyun yawns. “Thank you…”

“Huh?” Yifan jolts, for no other reason that he feels very uncomfortable with himself.

“For not leaving me.”

“Oh. Oh, right. Of course, I wasn’t going to. You just… I told you not to go crazy.”

“But I still got my nap, see? Shouldn’t we be hurrying though? Aren’t you going to take a bath?”

Yifan clears his throat and he stares around the room like it’s going to save him, or that another tub will magically appear. “After you, I will.”

Baekhyun tuts, water sloshing as he moves around. One pale knee emerges from the water as the hybrid sits further upright. His collarbones peek out over the surface of the bath, slick with soapy water. “There’s no time. You should get in too.”

It’s possible that something in Yifan’s brain quits functioning, but he finds himself called in by the demand in Baekhyun’s tone of voice. He turns away, pretending to need something on which to lay his clothes, shirt, neck tie and belt. He can feel Baekhyun’s eyes on him, but he refuses to turn around and check.

The pants go off really quick, and Yifan wastes no further time standing naked in the center of the room. When he steps into the tub, Baekhyun is pouring water over his closed eyes, and it’s not until Yifan sinks down to cover himself that Baekhyun looks up. Their eyes meet across the tub, feet wrestling in the middle for room.

Maybe, it’s not as awkward as it could be, as Yifan thought it might be. They’re just too beings in a hurry who need to wash up, and granted, Baekhyun is kind of a dog. The twitch in his ears give it away, as does the crinch of his nose as he squirms in the tub, nose sensitive to the oils in the water, and to Yifan’s foot which keeps slipping on the ceramic basin. He manages to stretch his legs out to one side, barely brushing Baekhyun’s water-logged tail, and the first touch makes him recoil, it’s so unusual.

Baekhyun smirks and passes him the bar of soap. Yifan readies himself for a statement, something embarrassing, as Baekhyun is sure to say. Instead, when he meets the hybrid’s eye, fingers tangling to take the soap, something else completely unusual happens.

Baekhyun blushes and looks away.


	7. Six

Half an hour later, Baekhyun is like a different hybrid altogether. Fully dressed and much more awake, Yifan stares at him covertly across the back seat of the motor car. Baekhyun has his head out the open window, ears jolting unevenly with every bump of the tires on the road. Yifan’s estate and the Liu’s might share a common boundary line, but the lane that connects their driveways is long and circuitous. There’s also a nip in the air which Baekhyun doesn’t seem to mind one bit. He sniffs the air and smiles into the wind, one knee perched on the seat and the other foot mashed into the floorboard of the vehicle. Only the bottom tip of his tail is visible from Yifan’s viewpoint. He had absolutely insisted that Baekhyun wear his warmest coat, in this case, a calf-length woolen monstrosity that made Baekhyun look twice as burly as his usual self.

“Are you… sure you shouldn’t sit down?” Yifan asks him worriedly.

“What? And miss this view? I want to see their estate when we get close. Yifan, is it bigger than yours? Smaller?”

“It’s… comparable, I suppose.”

“Comparable?” Baekhyun pulls his torso back inside the window and sits down on his bottom. “How can it be comparable without you inside it?” The hybrid flashes a maddeningly wide smile and winks once, twice.

Disorienting as it is, Yifan is glad to see this side of his personality reappear. He worried Baekhyun might be upset or mopey. They were after all, on their way to visit a woman whom Yifan’s mother expected to take Baekhyun’s place.

Yifan swallows thickly. “It’s… it’s a comparable estate. Look, you can almost see it now.”

The hybrid takes his eyes off him, drawn once more to the prospect of the Liu manor home, and for the rest of the short drive, Yifan breathes a little easier.

There is a footman to greet them, and a butler after that. If any of the Liu’s household servants are surprised to see Yifan with his plus one, they don’t show it. They take Yifan’s and Baekhyun’s coats with a pleasant air of welcome and lead them up the entryway stairs.

“Yifan!” cries a woman from the top step. “My God, is that really you? How did you get so tall? You’ve got giant blood in you, just as I always knew.”

“Amber,” Yifan greets her with a smile. “It’s been so long. How are you?”

With her father nowhere in sight, he hugs his old friend tight and then parts, holding her shoulders at arm’s length. After all these years, she looks just the same. Short and pretty with a devilish slant to her lips and a cheeky smile. She wears a coral pink gown, sleeveless and straight with no waistline, and elaborate beads all over. Yifan has seen the style before, the last time he visited his mother in town. It seems after all these years, Miss Amber Liu is right on point with the bold, modern fashion of young ladies these days.

“I’m perfect, darling. Having a wonderful, wonderful life. Although what’s up with this so-called betrothal of ours, hm? I came home to visit father, and the next thing I know I’m being fitted for an engagement gown? Yifan, we must talk about this.” She waves her hand airily and tosses her head. It’s short and bobbed with a wide, burgundy beaded headband holding back the blond fringe of her bangs.

“I… am just as surprised as you, actually. But here we are, and I came…” He follows her gaze over his shoulder and immediately clears his throat. “Oh, Amber, this is Baekhyun. Baekhyun, this is my neighbor… Miss Amber Liu.”

Baekhyun stands stiffly, a pleasant smile plastered to his face, but it looks fake and out of place.

“Miss Liu, how good to meet you.”

Amber observes his posture with a clever tilt of her head, then she holds out her hand for him to kiss.

“Call me Amber, darling, please. There’s nothing quite so droll in life as to be addressed as Miss.” She turns a scathing gaze at Yifan, and he shrinks away.

“Amber, then,” Baekhyun amends.

Amber twirls in her place.

“Come, it’s early yet for father to come down. No doubt he’ll be forever dressing for dinner. Shall we catch up in the parlor room while we wait?”

She glides across the open hall towards a dimly lit room, and Yifan follows. At the doorway, however, he stops and waits for Baekhyun to catch up, holding his elbow gently to let him enter the room first. It’s a gentlemanlike move that has the hybrid lifting his eyebrows questioningly. Nevertheless, he sweeps in after Amber and chooses a place to sit.

Amber herself takes the center armchair and leans haughtily against it.

“I didn’t know you were bring a guest, Yifan,” she accuses him with a sweet tone of disapproval. Yifan bristles for the impending scolding, but instead she turns towards the hybrid. “Baekhyun, you must forgive me. I must look like a terrible hostess, not knowing you were coming, but Yifan here was never good with communication. I trust there’s nothing that you don’t like or can’t eat? My lovely Hayi has such a particular taste for things, so I’ve gotten used to planning the menus around her pallette. If I had known we were to have a hybrid guest, I most certainly would have asked.”

At this Baekhyun opens his mouth, but speechless for once, he looks to Yifan for help.

Amber looks sharply back at him, waiting.

“He… he eats everything. But, Amber, may I ask, who is this Hayi?”  

She sits back with a laugh and another wave her hand.“My papillon!” As if Yifan should have already known.  “I left her in town to come here first. The season there is in its last swing, and she has a beaux she’s been courting, as you might say. Some utterly charming and devastatingly handsome bull terrier hybrid who lives with the Marquis of Albion. Anyways, I expect she’ll be around by the end of next week. Oh, I’d dearly love it if you two could meet her.”

Yifan looks flabbergasted. Baekhyun, however, sits up curiously. “You… you have a hybrid?”

She snorts. “Do I have a hybrid? Oh, of course not. There’s no having a hybrid. She’s my dear friend though and I love her to death. Really teaches me so many things about life. How about you, Yifan? I can’t imagine your mother approving. When did you and Baekhyun meet?”

Yifan explains briefly how he ‘met’ Baekhyun in the village, and the events thereafter which lead Baekhyun to ‘staying on’. It’s odd, explaining their relationship in a way that’s so different than the times he’s told it before. To the people on the estate, Baekhyun is just a stray who now sleeps in Yifan’s bed, but to Amber, polished lady about town, the hybrid-human relationship is much more common and refined. There’s a nuance to the whole breed that Yifan has never come across before. To Baekhyun also, Yifan can tell he’s intrigued. Neither one of them know what to make of this, but with Amber they’re put at ease.

By the time Mr. Liu appears for dinner, they have talked themselves silly about Baekhyun’s excursions with the sheepdogs and Yifan’s habit of snoring - Yifan hotly protests - that they almost miss the little old gentleman who appears in the doorway.

“Amber, my dear, is it time for supper?” and “Oh, Yifan, my boy, it’s been quite such a long time. Wonderful to see you again. And who is your friend?”

Baekhyun has more a bounce to his step on their way to the dining hall, especially when Amber trails a few steps behind her father and puts her arm around Yifan’s shoulder, whispering, “Pssst… you must help me strategize. You and me, married? I love you dearly, Yifan, but you’re far too straight-laced for me to handle, and besides, who am I to crawl in between you and another.” She winks at Baekhyun whose ears fall flat to the side of his face, and Yifan blushes wildly, but they don’t talk about it again for the rest of the meal.

  
 

On the way home, several hours later, Yifan is still thinking about what she said. One thing at least was a relief - that Amber had no great desire to get married right now, and especially not to him. That falls right in love with Yifan’s desire for nothing to interfere with his staid life style, such as having a wife might cost him. On the other hand, if not Amber, then will his mother protest and then find another bride who might be even less accommodating than Yifan’s old, childhood friend? And if only that thought distressed him more than the other thing Amber mentioned.

Baekhyun.

“What’s the matter?” he asks the hybrid who shifts mercilessly around the back seat of the car. “Did you drink too much? Eat too much?”

Baekhyun giggles. “Maybe a little of both? Yifan, I like your neighbor. She’s fun and funny, more than you. Maybe I’ll go live with her instead, huh?”

Yifan clears his throat and Baekhyun laughs again.

“I thought you liked staying with me? I thought you said I was incomparable?”

“I suggested your estate was incomparable. But that was before I met Miss Liu. Excuse me, Amber. I liked Amber.”

“More than me?” Yifan grumbles. He stares through the window separating the back seat from the front, wishing there was something in the darkness to stare at other than the darkened lane illuminated by headlights.

Baekhyun suddenly winds an arm across Yifan’s throat, and he gasps, feeling throttled.  “What are you doing?” he says loudly, reaching up to pull Baekhyun’s arm away. The hybrid, however, continues to giggle, and he grasps onto the collar of Yifan’s neck and drags himself closer.

“Aww, you look jealous. Yifan, are you jealous?”

It must be the wine over dinner. Baekhyun didn’t seem that drunk when they left but Yifan remembers distinctly that he went through four glasses of merlot, nearly a whole bottle’s worth. Perhaps it hit him late.

“I’m not… jealous,” Yifan tries to protest. But in the backseat of the car, Baekhyun looms awfully close to his face.

“Are you sure? Why are you so stiff then, hmm?”

“I’m not…” Yifan loses track of every sensation though when Baekhyun cups his hand against Yifan’s cheek, one and then the other. His nose just inches away, pale lips parting in a grin and he licks his lips. Yifan’s brain short-circuits when Baekhyun’s tongue emerges. He follows it from one side to the other, ever more conscious of their proximity and how Baekhyun is practically hovering above him on his lap.

Then Baekhyun squishes his hands together, squishing Yifan’s cheeks and mouth, and he cackles loudly into the air at the obviously garbled effect.

“Yifan, like this you’re so cute! Hey, hey, tomorrow, can you maybe teach me how to ride properly?”

“R-Ride?” Ride what?!

“A horse, Yifan, please, please, pretty please?”

By the time they get home and Yifan puts Baekhyun to bed - the hybrid conks out the second his head hits the pillow, Yifan is exhausted and near miserable. This day was too long, and getting out of his betrothal should have made him happier. Instead, he’s annoyed because _only Baekhyun_ would get drunk, tell him he’s cute, and then ask Yifan to teach him to ride a horse.  

Yifan is not cut out for this kind of life. But he kind of likes it.


	8. Seven

"Baekhyun... would you... Baekhyun, careful! What are you doing, that was a _fence_ you just jumped over! ... Baekhyun, the horse! You're going too fast!"

If Yifan doesn't pass out dead from heart failure this day, he'll be extremely surprised. It's only been a day and a half since Baekhyun first began riding on his own, and already he's taken the title of daredevil brat to the next level. Even the stable boy wobbling lamely by Yifan's side is white in the face watching the hybrid course across the grounds, mud and melted snow flying from under the four legged animal's hooves. He and Yifan and also Minseok when the shepherd got too close all look exactly the same: filthy and disgusting, covered in slush, cold, and terrified. Only Baekhyun doesn't seem as concerned with his own safety.

"Look at me!!!" he shouts on his next fly by.

Yifan winces, the horse growing ever more skittish from carrying a dog on her back. He cups his hands around his mouth and yells, "Baekhyun! I think that's... I think that's enough, please! We can, ride again tomorrow!!?" 

Magically, they get Baekhyun back down eventually and in one piece, neither the hybrid nor the horse any the worse for wear. Baekhyun just giggles and exclaims all the way back inside about how exhilarating it feels, and there's true joy on his face that Yifan can't bear to wipe away. 

"I can ride! I can ride anywhere, Yifan, isn't that just amazing!?"

"Yes, it is..." he agrees. Because it's true. It is amazing. Everything about Baekhyun is amazing, from his floppy ears to his mud sloshed tail to the beaming smiles on his face, to the fact that Yifan is halfway corralling and carrying a hybrid human dog person through his family manor up to the bath when only a couple months ago this place was a den of melancholy and perfectly organized boredom.

It's not that Yifan felt like he was alone before Baekhyun came to stay. There were always people about, both servants and peers, and the occasional friends from his school days dropping by in the summer and around holidays. He had things to do, an estate to manage, and he enjoyed his life, finding and appreciating his purpose in this small corner of the world. Down the road, perhaps, Yifan had imagined having a family, a wife and children, the normal things expected for a man living in the country. But those were never more than far off shadows, distant probabilities he'd never examined very closely, and nor had he wanted to. The way things were was just fine, and he had nothing else he wanted and no hole to fill. 

Until Baekhyun came to live with him, moving into his home and his heart, and revealed a lack Yifan hadn't known existed. 

"So you've crossed off 'learning to ride a horse' from your list, Baekhyun. What's next?" 

He stands beside his dresser shouting into the bath chamber through the partially open door. There was no way he was joining in today. The water would be brown before Baekhyun even got all the way in, whereas Yifan's coat had taken the brunt of the kicked up muck. He picks up a hand towel to dabble mildly around his face and hair. 

The bath water sloshes around and Baekhyun lets out a long, contented sigh. "Hot baths, horseriding, good company and food all the time. I was thinking about hot balloons next, what do you say, Yifan? How far will you go to indulge me?"

Yifan pauses, the towel slipping off his head and resting on his shoulder. Baekhyun is laughing, but again there's that slight questioning tone Yifan keeps picking up from time to time. Not the one that seriously suggests they go hot ballooning but, _How far will you go to indulge me...?_ How long does this experiment last, a hybrid living the good life as Yifan allows?

"W-what do you mean?" His voice wavers. 

There's a serious problem at the root of Baekhyun's question. One that requires sitting down, talking to him, telling Baekhyun how much he means to him. That he never wants him to go, but that he isn't _keeping_ him here like an overindulgent owner to his pet. He _wants_ him to _want_ to stay, and not just because living here means having a good life and wanting for nothing.

"Huh?" Baekhyun just yawns. "Oh, nothing. I'm tired. Why didn't you tell me riding is so tiring? Even when it's cold outside and I swear, the horse is doing more work than me, but looookk I still broke a sweat. That's gross."

Yifan murmurs fondly and takes one step into the chamber to deposit his towel there. "I was trying to keep up the mystery that I'm never exhausted by riding. A gentleman should never look like he's doing work, even when he is." 

Baekhyun chortles. One knee juts out of the water visibly. His head leans back against the side with his arms wrapped outwards around the basin. His eyes are closed and Yifan steals the opportunity to scratch his head. Baekhyun yips and cries out, water splashing, but seconds later he's whining and lolling his head from side to side. Streaks of dirt come off on Yifan's hands. 

"Still haven't shampooed your hair?" he chides.

Baekhyun shakes his head, grinning. "Too tired..." 

"Let me, then."

"What?"

The hybrid looks visibly confused, by Yifan reaches easily over the tub and takes the bottle of shampoo. Before Baekhyun can stop him, he kneels down at the head of the tub, knees resting on a rug. He pours a generous amount between his palms.

"Close your eyes, okay?"

Another hesitation, Baekhyun resuming his initial reclining spot but with his head a little more off the tub. "O-okay."

His hair between his hands, the strands turn from blackish brown to white as Yifan slowly builds up a lather. Baekhyun loves having his head scratched, period. But with the moisture and warmth combination from soap and water, Yifan can really use his nails to dig in and tug. He rubs his thumbs along the base of the hybrid's skull and spine, pinky fingers teasing the tips of his ears. Yifan has to be extra careful not to douse his ears in water and soap, but the little corrections Baekhyun has him make here and there far underscore the amount of times Baekhyun whines happily. His neck turns boneless, swaying from side to side until Yifan's hands are the only thing holding it up. Better still, the sounds he begins to make. Soft sighs, yearning breaths, the occasional deep rumble of contentment and one or two squeaks. Yifan could get addicted to sounds like these.

He begins to play with Baekhyun's hair, laughing as he shapes it into spikes and curls, purposefully bending his ears over or twisting them out. And the hybrid complains but he laughs while he does it and doesn't make him stop. 

"S-soapp, in my eye, Yifan, what are you doing??" he gasps and giggles, hands only smearing the shampoo around. 

Yifan ceases the head scrub and lowers his hands to the water. He just wanted to rinse them of soap, and this he does, but he can't help the proximity to Baekhyun's water slicked chest. Suddenly, this feels like an invasion of privacy. He stiffens, and goes to remove them, fingertips dragging against the hybrid's collar bones, and Baekhyun also gasps. 

"I... sorry." Yifan grunts. But in Baekhyun's partially soap-blind state, he shudders and begins to slip down the tub, grabbing onto the closest thing he can anchor to, Yifan's wrists.  They freeze that way, Yifan draped over his back, palms on Baekhyun's chest, Baekhyun clutching on and inadvertently keeping them there. 

There is soap bleeding into the front of his shirt, wet hair leaving its mark, trailing across Yifan's chin and along one side of his neck. 

"Oh," says Baekhyun. "Hang on, sorry." 

After a moment, he secures his footing and sits back upright, using Yifan's arms like a rope. As soon as he's free, Yifan once again rinses his hand and reaches around to wipe the soap from Baekhyun's eyes.

"B-better?" he asks mournfully.

"Yeah. I can... uhm... finish up now." He leans forward and intently rubs his eyes, head shaking a few times. A few soap spuds fly off and land once more on Yifan's shirt. He stands up quickly, afraid suddenly that he's crossed one line too much. Touching him in that way, making him lose focus in such a way. 

"I didn't mean to... I'm really sorry, I'll let you go now." Yifan mumbles, but he can't keep his panic and remorse actually hidden. He gets two steps towards the door when Baekhyun turns around. 

"Wait!" 

He looks so sleepy and pouty, his eyes reddened by his soapy fingers, but Baekhyun seems determined to say something first. Yifan swallows heavily as he peers down at the tub, watching and trying not to watch as the hybrid's entire torso comes out of the water, rotating just enough to face him. He sinks down on his knees and leans over the back of the basin, elbows perched on the edge, and his hair is still one big soapy mess. One ear is up, the other down, and in any other circumstance Yifan would laugh and tease him about the overall effect. 

"Yifan?" he says in a small voice, unusual for Baekhyun.

"Yes?"

"Come here, silly." He beckons him return with a small wave of his hand. 

Yifan does, but he keeps a respectful distance this time when he kneels on the rug. Baekhyun runs his own hands through his air, rubbing the soap around until his hands are covered in suds.

"What is it? Yifan tries again.

Baekhyun smiles, and it's awfully shy but also mischievous. "You missed a spot."

"I... I did?"

"Yeah. Right here."

And before Yifan can do anything, his head is being yanked forward, soap and water flying as Baekhyun covers his hair in the suds, laughing uproariously. Yifan almost falls into the tub, but it's bad enough he's now almost completely soaked through. His shirt is sticking to his chest, his face is teeming with bubbles.

"Baekhyun...!" he whines, to more laughter. A good bucketful of water splashes over the side of the tub and still the hybrid is laughing like this is the best game in the world, while Yifan just gasps for air and flails with his limbs and tries not to accidentally smack Baekhyun in the face.  

It all settles down when Yifan is thoroughly breathless and half his head is covered in shampoo. He pants and Baekhyun chortles, and he seems in that moment very much like a child. 

Until he stills, his hands cupping Yifan around the ears, and there's such a curious look on his face, like Baekhyun is searching for something more, or perhaps _through_ Yifan's entire being. His smile weakens but his eyes still sparkle, his gaze trailing up and down every inch of Yifan's face. It makes him slightly uncomfortable, realizing how weak he actually is to everything _Baekhyun_.

"Hey, Yifan?" he says softly. 

Yifan only gulps, and Baekhyun takes that as having his undivided attention.

"I... I wanted you to know that, I... really love it here. With you.... I love being around you. Really. As much as I can be, I do."


	9. Eight

Yifan has kept himself extra busy for the last week. Part of that was just because he had to. With planting season arriving in the near future, there were plenty of things to prepare for with Junmyeon as well as with Yifan’s tenants. That kept him moving across the estate frequently and also in long deep meetings going over figures and accounts. Yifan also took himself away for three days to the town on the other side of the village, there meeting with other venture farmers like himself. And no, he didn’t have to go himself, he could have sent Junmyeon, but ever since Baekhyun’s pseudo bathroom confession, Yifan was more than ready to take a few days break and clear his head.

To no avail though. Nothing kept him occupied enough, nothing kept his brain completely distracted. Nothing stopped his mind and his heart from unraveling Baekhyun’s words, taking them apart and reassembling them so that all Yifan ended up hearing over and over and over in his mind, waking or asleep, were the words ‘I. love. you’.

“Welcome back.” Junmyeon greets him with a wry smile, and it’s more than a friendly hello. He looks stressed and haggard.

“Yes?” Yifan doesn’t bother to return exact pleasantries. “What’s wrong?”

“Wrong? Oh, nothing. Nothing’s wrong. Just your hybrid driving everyone on the estate absolutely crazy because you didn’t take him with you.”

The way he says your hybrid doesn’t escape Yifan’s notice. Junmyeon is long past the era of referring to Baekhyun as an it, but everyone on the place knows by now that there’s more to Yifan and Baekhyun’s relationship than human-hybrid, squire-guest, or even just friends. The fact Junmyeon isn’t afraid to make a joke about it in his presence is telling. Yifan has just spent three days alone trying to come up with a definition about what Baekhyun means to him, and right now the only thing he can come up with is that somehow Baekhyun belongs with him.

He tries to play it off easy. “What? But I told him he wouldn’t like going with me… I thought… He said he understood.”

“Well, he may have told you that, but as soon as you were gone, he turned into an absolutely menace and a pest. Even Minseok has been racking his head trying to find things to keep him occupied, I’ve completely run out of a month’s supply of mint candies, and let me warn you- I wouldn’t greet Kyungsoo with a smile right now. I may or may not have caught your manservant being forced to give pets, and I’m pretty sure by the expression on his face Kyungsoo would rather be wringing Baekhyun’s pretty little neck.”

“Kyungsoo?” Yifan gulps, and he tells himself the burn in his chest right now isn’t sharing an emotion that feels strongly of jealousy. “He hates dogs. How did Baekhyun persuade him to sit still long enough to give him pets?”

“Blackmail probably.” Junmyeon laughs. “My point is that-”

“Oooomphhh.” Something takes the wind right out of Yifan’s chest.

“You’re home!!!”

Baekhyun jumps him with an impact so sudden, Yifan actually topples to the ground, his legs and limbs in tangles, the hybrid firmly atop his chest. “You’re back!!!” He cries again and Yifan doesn’t respond. His skull feels a little bruised, Junmyeon is laughing and peering down. If Baekhyun were an actual dog, he’d probably be slobbering all over Yifan’s face. Instead of that, however, he’s just got a large male person with fuzzy ears and a wet nose holding him down and proceeding to snuggle him right there in the entryway. “You’re back, you’re back. I don’t care what you say next time, but it was way more boring here without you, and nobody is cool enough to replace you and-”

He starts telling Yifan all the things he did and didn’t do and what was fun and what wasn’t fun at all, and how Junmyeon was mean to him and Kyungsoo was grumpy and-

Junmyeon walks away, still laughing. The footman who opened the door quietly closes it and excuses himself from the hall. They’re all alone and Baekhyun is slowing down, and still they’re laying on the ground, half of Yifan’s body on the rug and, there’s nothing left to do except inch his arms off the ground and slowly wrap them around Baekhyun’s body.

The hybrid isn’t even aware of it until Yifan is holding him snugly back. He stops midway through a story about Minseok and freezes. Yifan lifts his head to catch his expression, stunned as well see a red blush of coloring on Baekhyun’s cheeks.

He clears his throat, leans his head back down and even though he’s staring straight up at the ceiling, Yifan says, “I missed you too.”

A soft gasp escapes Baekhyun’s lips, and the hybrid melts a little further into his arms, his tail wagging half-heartedly until it too stops moving.

“You did?” He whispers a few seconds later, like he’s been pondering the thought.

“Yeah.”

“Like, really?”

“Yeah.”

And a few months ago, Yifan would be mortified to be found laying on the floor with a man on top him, cuddling, in full view. But right now, this is cozy, and who cares what anyone thinks, least of all his own household.

“I suppose we should get up then,” says Baekhyun.

Yifan grunts, but he knows he’s taken Baekhyun for surprise when he doesn’t immediately move and instead hugs him tighter.

“In just a minute.”

Baekhyun’s ears tickle his chin, and then his cheek as the hybrid squirms happily in his arms.

“Hey, hey, Yifan?”

“Yeah?”

“Can we riding later? Just you and me?”

“Of course.”

  
  
  


The funny thing about teaching Baekhyun how to ride a horse is that no matter how capable Yifan pronounces the hybrid is, Baekhyun would still rather ride along in front of Yifan. The saddle is barely big enough to handle it, but Baekhyun has never let problems like a lack of space become a deterrent. Not when the other option is to meld himself to Yifan’s side. It’s with mixed emotions that Yifan lets him lean back against his chest. He holds the reins with one hand, and with the other he hugs Baekhyun tightly to his body, his large palm wrapping around the front of Baekhyun’s tummy.

“I thought you wanted to ride?” He yells into the wind. There’s a strong northern breeze that promises another round of snow, probably later that evening. All the more reason to huddle together and share in each other’s warmth.

“Doesn’t this count?” Baekhyun replies mellowly. He points though and Yifan follows his hand towards one of the more wooded areas on a lesser traveled path near the end of the estate. There’s a property line somewhere beyond the trees marking Yifan’s land from Amber’s father’s, and now that Baekhyun reminds him, there’s a small creek nearby.

“Ahh, so you’ve found this place?” He asks, letting Baekhyun slide off first. The ground crunches beneath his boots. Most of the creek is frozen over, although a small trickle still flows through. It’s chilly, and Yifan adjusts his hook to cover up his ears, then reaches forward to do the same for Baekhyun’s.

“Yes. While you were gone. It’s nice. I like it.”

That it is, Yifan agrees. Quiet, picturesque. When Yifan was a boy he would sneak out here during the warmer months and lay out on the grass. Sometimes he would fish, even though he never caught a single thing. It was his place. His secret spot. His parents didn’t even know this is where he came to hide, only a few servants but they wisely never told.

He hasn’t been back in so many years. As an adult he had no reason to. But when he sees it again, sees Baekhyun walking around on sacred ground, he waits. He waits for that moment of distress that should surely follow now that someone else is here in his place…

It doesn’t happen.

Baekhyun hops over tree roots and logs, pushes past the dormant bare branches of winter and unwisely bends over to trail his fingers through the frigid water.

This is a place Yifan would never have shown anyone. But now, now he can’t believe how easy Baekhyun fits here amidst all of Yifan’s past memories.

“Don’t fall in,” he warns him idly.

Baekhyun scoffs.

“I know. I can be careful too, you know.”

The hybrid looks around and smiles happily. He sighs, and his hood has already fallen away from his head so that his ears twist and flicker in the breeze, or probably picking up more sounds than Yifan could ever hope to hear. Yifan climbs carefully over to him as well, tests a log for security, and then sits beside it. Baekhyun backs up, away from the creek bed and then sits there as well.

There’s a tree on the other side of the creek. With its wide trunk and long sprawling branches, it’ll be absolutely gorgeous in the spring, this Yifan knows. Because it was his favorite tree on the whole estate.

“You carved your name into,” says Baekhyun, and it’s not a question. From here Yifan can barely make out the markings, but he remembers it’s there.

“When I was a boy, yeah.”

Baekhyun must have already seen it. Something about that thought makes Yifan inwardly squirm.

“I thought it would be something cute, like your initials and maybe someone else’s. A sweetheart’s, isn’t that what people call it? Kids write those things all over the place. I saw some in the village. I saw that boy Sehun writing it near his home a few months ago. O.S. and Z.T. with little hearts all over the place.”

Yifan grunts.

“Not yours though. It’s just your name, do you remember?”

“I do.”

“And then you drew a dog.”

“I… remember that too.”

“You used to have a dog? A real dog?” Baekhyun asks.

The way he says ‘real dog’ makes Yifan’s heart pinch and ache, as if Baekhyun implies that he isn’t a real dog. But then what does that make him? A real human?

“He was a stray I found in the village,” Yifan says. His heart pinches again. “I called him Shadow. I guess I thought of him as my best friend. He went with me everywhere.”

Even to this secret place where no humans except Yifan ever came. The picture he carved into the trunk next to his name is a crude impression of a dog’s face and a stick figure body beneath it, but he had been proud of it.

“Must have been a good pet,” says Baekhyun a little wistfully.

“He… he was.”

“What happened to him?”

Yifan tears his eyes away from the tree. Baekhyun isn’t looking at it either. Instead, he stares into the glassy surface of the trickling water, poking it with a long stick. Some of the icicles along the edge crackle under his touch. His smile is softer, muted, thoughtful.

“He died. It was a long time ago.”

It was a long time ago. And Shadow definitely did die, somehow. Only Yifan doesn’t know how. Because the truth is, he ran away. Or was chased off. Or lost. Yifan came home from visiting his grandparents one winter and Shadow was gone. His father hugged him, the servants consoled him. Only his mother didn’t bother to act like she was sad, and Yifan never got the truth. He mourned in secret and continued to think about him, and over time he got better. Until now, until this moment, he hadn’t thought about Shadow in a very long time.

“I’m sorry,” says Baekhyun softly.

Yifan sighs. It was a long time ago, and he isn’t so distressed by it anymore. Baekhyun has nothing to be sorry for, and Yifan’s about to open his mouth and tell him so, but-

“Am I like like that to you?”

Yifan gasps. “What?”

“Like that dog? I follow you around, and you seem pretty happy, and you treat me really well, and I am… well, it’s kind of obvious, but I’m part dog? So I’m just wondering… am I like that to you?”

And Baekhyun’s eyes are gazing off across the creek and everything about his tone sounds neutral to Yifan’s ears. There’s a shadow of a smile on his lips, and a blase look to his face, but his words hit Yifan completely in the gut.

“Why do you ask that?” he blurts out angrily. He didn’t mean it to come out so rough.

Baekhyun actually winces. His head snaps towards Yifan and his eyes blink rapidly, smile completely gone.

“I didn’t… I don’t know…?”

“You’re not a dog, Baekhyun. You’re just… Baekhyun. You’re Baekhyun, and nothing more.”

“I’m…. n-nothing more?” Baekhyun trips over his words, and it’s so unlike him that Yifan immediately knows he’s reacted too strongly.

“I mean. I just mean…” he tries and fails to come up with words to describe this. His heart is thumping and Baekhyun looks almost about to cry. This is all going so so wrong, and Yifan doesn’t know how to fix it. How could he have known that Baekhyun meant to have this conversation like this, right now?

“I’m sorry,” Baekhyun whines, and his ears tuck low beside his head. “I didn’t mean to make you upset or… bring up… things.”

But then he’s standing up, and a deeper fear strikes Yifan’s heart that Baekhyun is just going to walk away from this and never hear what Yifan wants to say.

“You’re… You’re just Baekhyun, and I like you! … like that.”

He tugs the hybrid back down onto the log and Baekhyun lands there with a thump, his eyes blown wide. Slowly, his lips start to part. Yifan watches them unfold, watches as Baekhyun very slowly swipes his tongue along his bottom lip. He bites the same lip a moment later, and Yifan is distracted by Baekhyun swallowing heavily, his neck constricting.

He’s not even breathing, so intently is he watching Baekhyun’s ever miniscule motion. But then he glances up and gets a shock when he realizes how close their faces are. Baekhyun just witnessed everything, every movement of Yifan’s gaze. His cheeks have gone dusty pink, and Yifan just knows his are blazing red.

He leans forward, almost like his body is out of its own control. This is a dream world right now, and he’s pretty sure he just confessed… finally… or did he? Yifan doesn’t know anymore. He just knows that he’s moving closer and Baekhyun hasn't moved away and if he stays on this trajectory then their lips will soon collide and maybe that will be the real confession right there. If Baekhyun doesn’t move, or if he’ll even reciprocate.

Perhaps now is the time to find out…

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I accidentally wrote half of the next chapter before I realized I had already gone over the avg word count, so... expect another update tomorrow? hehe


	10. Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning- this chapter is a bit long, and has some... weird stuff in it (not worth rating though, at least, not yet).

Call it an interruption, call it a coincidence, or call it fate stepping in from another dimension, but Yifan doesn’t get to find out. Inches from Baekhyun’s lips, and his eyes beginning to close, Baekhyun still hasn’t moved. But then someone whistles loudly from far off, and they spring apart.

Shocked, Yifan stands up and looks around. Baekhyun is right beside him.

“What was that?”

Through the trees they hear the loud trampling of horse’s hooves, one or perhaps two of them from beyond the property line.

More shrieking, laughter, shouts of merriment, and the distinct yipping of something which sounds familiarly like a hybrid bark.

“Is t-that…” stutters Baekhyun.

“Come on,” says Yifan, taking Baekhyun by the hand as he leads him quickly downstream. There is a log there that bridges a narrow part of the creek. They ford it hastily and scramble up the opposite bank towards the tree line. There used to be a fence here, but the weather over the years blew it down and he never rebuilt it. He’s glad for it now, because just as he emerges into the field, he’s met with the sight of his old friend Amber galloping along.

“Yifan!” she shrieks giddily when she first spots him. The animal beneath her shifts directions quickly and she rides up close. “Yifan, what are you doing so far out here- oh! Oh, and you have Baekhyun. Oh, excellent!” She turns her head and shouts out another name even as descends, swinging her legs around and down and landing heavily on the ground next to her horse.

“Amber,” Yifan says, tipping his head and smiling lopsidedly. He’s unsure if this is a welcome distraction or not, but it sure sounded like there was another hybrid around.

“Hello,” pants Baekhyun. He’s quite out of breath, just like Yifan, but he too is craning his neck around for the source of the other hybrid, only his nostrils are flaring as well and he looks upset. That, or he’s completely confused. “You… I smell…”

“Well this is a great surprise, but now I can finally introduce you to my friend. The hybrid I mentioned? Hayi?” She turns and yells again, “Hayi!” cupping her mouth to project her voice.

Yifan finally sees the other horse slashing down across the field, and astride it a female hybrid with long flowing hair covering springy ears like small little wings. The hybrid is a gorgeous creature with a small round face and lovely features, reddish brown hair to match her ears. She rides quite confidently.

“Amber? Who is it?” asks the hybrid, her horse slowing to a trot, and then to a full stop.

Yifan tries not to stare, but the only hybrid he’s ever seen before now was Baekhyun, and he looks so thoroughly ‘puppy’ and familiar now to Yifan, that he almost forgot hybrids were originally bred from all sorts of mixtures. And the delicate looking papillon before him looks nothing like Baekhyun.

Amber doesn’t notice his wonder. She holds her hand up to aid the girl slipping down and smiles. “My friends that I told you about. Come down and you can finally meet them.”

Yifan turns his head from the female back to Baekhyun, and he’s confused by what he sees. He expected Baekhyun to intrigued, excited, or at least to be curious about the new breed of hybrid, his cousin of sorts in a world where hybrids are rare. But Baekhyun, instead of looking excited, as he usually does when there are new people to meet, is turning a sickly white. He gulps and holds his hand over his mouth like he’s going to be sick.

“Baekhyun?” he asks, worried.

Amber hasn’t yet looked. “Hayi, this is Baekhyun.”

The papillon marches gingerly forward to stand beside her, at first delightedly. Yifan is ready to be properly introduced as well, but then she too stops, and her eyes grow large. “Oh!” she gasps, immediately retreating a few steps. “Oh, I’m sorry… I…”

“Hayi? What’s wrong?” Amber follows her. The hybrid shifts her large eyes between Amber and Yifan, to Baekhyun with a worried look, and then back at them again. “Hayi?”

“I’m so sorry…”

Meanwhile Baekhyun starts to sag. Yifan rushes forward to catch him. “Baekhyun!? What’s the matter?” He grabs ahold of one arm before he drops completely, then shifts his weight until he’s standing in front of him. Baekhyun leans unsteadily into his chest and gasps.

“I… I’m fine…” he tries to say. But he’s no longer breathing regularly. He looks like he’s about to sneeze, except his face is still deathly white, like he’s terrified of something.

“Amber?” Yifan pleads. She looks almost as confused as he does.

“Hayi, what’s going on?”

Hayi hastily explains. “He’s… oh no, I think he’s reacting to my smell. Amber, I’m so sorry, I should get away.”

“What?” Yifan gapes, still clutching Baekhyun who has started to fight against him. “What kind of reaction?”

“I didn’t know there’d be another hybrid so close today, else I wouldn’t have come out.”

“Baekhyun? Baekhyun, are you alright?” Yifan begins to panic as well. Baekhyun is starting to shiver and sink, and his neck feels so warm, the parts of it Yifan can touch. He holds a hand to his forehead, but Baekhyun jerks away. Then he wrings himself completely out of Yifan’s grasp and falls to the ground. His knees sink into the dirt.

“I’m fine!” He shouts when Yifan bends close. “Don’t… don’t touch me for a… second…”

“Baekhyun, you’re not fine.” And just as Yifan says it, he sees sweat pouring from the hybrid’s forehead and the whiteness from earlier has turned a brilliant red. Baekhyun doubles over like he’s in pain, and he emits a wolfish growl and rocks away when Yifan touches his back.

“I don’t understand. He… he was find just a moment ago.”

The sense of barely concealed panic is start to break through. Baekhyun, his Baekhyun looks like he’s dying, and Yifan has no idea what to do about it, especially when the hybrid won’t let him touch him at all. He appeals blindly to Amber, fists clenching and unclenching as he tries to figure out what he should do. He’s never felt this helpless before, never seen Baekhyun reacting this helplessly before.

The papillon starts to whimper. “It’s me, it’s my fault. I wasn’t completely out of the heat when I came out riding… Amber, I’m going home. That might help him stop.”

Yifan looks from her to his hybrid now coiling into a tight little ball on the ground with his knees up by his chest. He whimpers and cries and still won’t let Yifan touch him.

“Amber??” Yifan’s voice is getting higher and higher pitched.

His childhood friend looks just as lost. But as he watches the papillon climb quickly onto her horse, she gasps suddenly. “Oh! You’ve told me… something like this… alright, go! Go home! I’ll help these two first, okay.”

Hayi wastes no further time, and even Yifan feels a sense of relief when she rides off, like a fog suddenly dispersing, although he doesn’t know why.

“I don’t understand,” he says flatly.

“She was in heat this week, that’s why she came back to the countryside so soon.” Amber sighs. “Don’t ask me for details, I don’t understand things so clearly, but hybrids… they’re like other animals The females occasionally go into heat and it attracts others to them so… your hybrid is…” she falters, voice dropping low, and stares helplessly at Baekhyun, ”reacting to that.”

“He’s attracted to her?!” Yifan all but shouts.

It was probably the wrong thing to do. Baekhyun immediately starts to whimper and shake his head, and Yifan can’t tell if he really is dying, or else trying to deny it.

“I don’t think his body is giving him a choice right now. You need to get him home.”

“But-”

“Just go. Did you walk here? How did you-?”

“We rode, but my horse is on the other side of the creek.”

“Take mine then and go around. I’ll get yours and we’ll swap them later. Just hurry!”

“Hurry? I don’t understand what’s happening?”

She yells. “Your hybrid is having a sexual reaction to whatever scent mine was giving off, Yifan, what do you think is happening!”

Yifan gulps and says no more. He suddenly recognizes some of those sounds, the low voiced moan in particular, the one that sometimes haunts Yifan’s dreams because he sounds so human and… He shakes his head.

“He won’t let me touch him though.”

Amber sighs. “He’s probably scared of you right now. Perhaps I can-”

She drops besides the hybrid and gently touches his shoulder. “Baekhyun…?”

Yifan is astounded that Baekhyun doesn’t shove her arm away like he did with his earlier. This is even more perplexing; he feels twice as helpless.

“Baekhyun, you can’t stay here. Let us help you up. Yifan can… he’s going to have to carry you, is that alright?”

The first head shake is a distinct no. Yifan swallows back the whine in his throat. But then Baekhyun shakes yes. “Alrriight,” he cries softly.

“You don’t mind?” Amber asks him again. Already she’s waving her arm for Yifan to come closer.

“No,” Baekhyun whines out pitifully. He whispers something then and Amber has to lean closer to make him say it again. It sounds awfully like, “Not scared of him… I’m scared of me…”

  
  
 

Yifan doesn’t really remember the details about how they got Yifan back to the estate. Somehow, between him and Amber they got him onto the horse, and somehow Yifan managed to ride home with him. Baekhyun writhed in his arms all the way, Yifan being careful to only touch him as much as he absolutely had to. Something about his touch, right now Baekhyun doesn’t want it. It hurts, deep down, except he doesn’t have time to dwell on that yet. He has to help Baekhyun first.

“Out of my way!” he yells to the first string of servants who accost him in the entryway.

“Sir?” they cry out fearfully. Yifan strides right past them, only informing one of the footman to send someone from the stables to tie up Amber’s horse.

“Almost there, Baekhyun. Almost there,” he just keeps whispering all the way up the stairs. “Is there anything else I can do? Should I call a doctor?”

Baekhyun’s voice is laced with tears. “No,” he sobs into the crook of Yifan’s neck, one arm hoisted above Yifan’s shoulder. The other has his shirt collar in a death grip. “Just… my room, please. I need… I want to be alone.”

So Yifan deposits him there, gently lowering the hybrid onto the bed he hasn’t slept in since that time after Yifan’s mother’s visit. It pains him to walk away, and for a few seconds Baekhyun wouldn’t let go of his hand either, like he was contemplating asking him to stay. But then another wave of emotions strike his body, and his face burns anew.

“Go! Please!” cries the hybrid as he rolls onto his stomach, and Yifan doesn’t need to be told twice. He races towards the door, his brain full of worry, and the last sweep of his gaze across the room is enough keep his eyes burning at the sight: Baekhyun whipping his coat off his small frame while simultaneously grounding his hips into the mattress, one hand already down between his legs.

Yifan slams the door shut behind him, and just breathes.

  
  
  
 

“It’s called a- Yifan, are you listening to me? Yifan, snap out of it.”

“Huh? Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Well, obviously.” Junmyeon only sighs at him, instead of giving him a full-on lecture as Yifan might have expected. He’s sitting on top of Yifan’s desk in the study while Yifan himself sits on the window seat. Junmyeon slams the binding of a large science manual which he found on the shelf. Yifan has never even cracked the spine of it before now.

“Say it again, please?” he asks, properly guilty.

“I said, it’s called a rut. A perfectly natural phenomenon in most dog species, and thus to the hybrids as well.”

“A rut.”

Yifan had pieced together as much. What he wants to know, rather than learning specifics of that general behavior, is why Baekhyun was so agonized by Yifan’s presence. He wasn’t going to hurt him, or take advantage of him, surely Baekhyun knew that? Unless his hormones were so swamped that he couldn’t think straight and thus lashed out. But then, he hadn’t acted that way when Amber touched him, and after Yifan sent Kyungsoo into Baekhyun’s room shortly after he left to check on him and bring him water, his manservant came out later saying Baekhyun acted fine other than being a little feverish.

Baekhyun also hadn’t thrown himself at Hayi when he first got wind of her, literally. Why was it just Yifan that seemed to bother the hybrid so much?

“Yifan? Yifan, what is it you’re thinking?”

Junmyeon is so astute, he’s probably reading Yifan’s mind. “Nothing.”

The land manager clicks his tongue disapprovingly. “You’re a terrible liar. But anyways, from what I can figure out from this book, a male hybrid reacting to a female in heat is short-lived. If the…  uhm… activity isn’t… acted upon within a few hours, the fever he’s experiencing now will die down, everything back to normal. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“Nothing to worry about,” Yifan echoes hollowly. “Right.”

He remains silent for a few minutes more, staring out the window. Junmyeon replaces the book from where he found it, and he fortunately doesn’t ask any more stupid questions for answers Yifan doesn’t have to give. At least until Yifan nods his head resolutely, jumps down from the window seat.

“Where are you going now?” Junmyeon asks in blind panic.

“To see Amber.”

“What?” Clearly it isn’t what Junmyeon was expecting to hear. He settles down with a sigh of curiosity, almost of relief.

“I need to talk to her. And return the horse. And see if her hybrid is alright. We kind of tore the two of them away from each other. For all we know, she’s just as ill right now-”

“Yifan, is that really what you think? That Baekhyun is upset you took him away from her?” Junmyeon sighs again, brushing a hand past his forehead and through his scalp.

“That’s what I need to find out.”

  
 

He only returns a few hours later. The time is late, the sun has long since gone down. Most of the lights in the house have been turned off for the night. He walks slowly, is greeted by the butler who yawns and he silently brushes off the need for any assistance.

Junmyeon will have gone home by now, so Yifan makes his way down the corridor to his bedroom suite, only glancing down the opposite hall towards Baekhyun’s barely used bedroom.

Kyungsoo hears him come in and is waiting inside his room.

“Welcome back, sir,” he says politely.

Yifan nods. “Have you seen Baekhyun recently? Is he well?”

“He is, sir. Came out an hour ago and he’d already drawn himself a bath.”

“By himself?” Yifan asks.

“So it would seem, sir.”

Yifan himself feels sticky, dirty. He’s grateful Kyungsoo prepared for this, and his own bath water is steaming, warm enough to sink into without waiting. He slips off his clothes and relaxes into the basin, stretching his legs curiously long because it’s been awhile since he had this much room to himself. It’s strange, like everything is off balance, just a little, because of Baekhyun’s absence.

He towels himself dry when done and throws on a robe, biting his lip so keep from calling out Kyungsoo’s name when he sees his bedclothes have already been laid out at the foot of his bed. His manservant has disappeared. In his place stands Baekhyun in a matching fluffy robe. It hangs down to the backs of his thighs, but he’s pulled it tight around his waist and high up his neck. His hair is fuzzy, only recently dried.

“Baekhyun.” Yifan’s voice almost catches in his throat.

The hybrid turns to him and smiles. It’s thin, expressionless. “I’m alright now… in case you were worried.”

“I wasn’t.” It’s important Yifan says that as soon as possible.

Baekhyun laughs, and again it sounds hollow, almost forced. Yifan takes a step towards him. The hybrid flinches. His reaction hits Yifan straight in the gut and he halts, patient, yet concerned.

“Why did you… do that?”

“Do what?” Baekhyun gasps, eyes shifting wildly side to side, as if unwilling to look Yifan straight in the eye.

“Flinch. Like you wanted to run away. And earlier too… I know it has nothing specifically to do with Hayi, I went to see Amber earlier and… learned more about… your kind.”

Baekhyun’s eyes quaver. They were already red from before. Now a single tear pools in the corner of one eye, threatening to spill over. “I’m sorry,” he cries. He doesn’t flinch this time though when Yifan steps again towards him.

“Sorry for what?”

Baekhyun’s frame is so small between Yifan’s hands, his fingertips curling delicately around the hybrid’s shoulders. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”

“But I do…” The tears finally fall. “I couldn’t control myself earlier. It was stupid and I hated it, and after you’d just told me that I was nothing like a dog, then I have to go and do that and-”

“Baekhyun.” Yifan wants to shake him. Instead, he pulls him close and hugs him. “Baekhyun, that’s not the issue. I don’t care about any of that. I know you couldn’t help it, but it doesn’t matter.”

“It does though.”

“No.”

Baekhyun’s sniffles are nearly overwhelming. Yifan cradles his head against his chest, tears moistening his robe.

“It does!” Baekhyun whimpers. “I didn’t want to be like that in front of you. I had no control, and then you… you…”

“What about me?” Yifan asks softly. He knows now that Baekhyun wouldn’t have thrown himself towards the other hybrid, that Hayi hadn’t scented any physical reaction beyond Baekhyun’s sudden pull towards his baser nature, and shame on top of that.

He doesn’t want Baekhyun to have felt like that, not then. Not now.

“I just wanted… you,” the hybrid admits with a hiccuping gulp.

“You have me though,” says Yifan, his hand coiling around the back of Baekhyun’s neck and hair.

“But not like that… not when I had no other desire but… that.”

“Do you still feel like that now?”

“N-no… not entirely. At least, it’s… not the same as earlier...”

“But, regardless,” Yifan whispers, lips nudging gently at the base of the hybrid’s pointed floppy ears, “you still have me.”

 

 


	11. Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Rated for sexy things. :)

When Yifan wakes up the next morning, he feels like he's being suffocated. His pillow his damp; he went to sleep with slightly wet hair, and with his bathrobe still on too. But why does everything feel twice as heavy now-

He shifts, but then someone else groans, and Yifan freezes. Panic sets in his gut, his heart rate rapidly increases. Baekhyun, is laying on top of him. Baekhyun, with his frizzy dried hair and triangularly folded ears, and two hands pawing Yifan's chest, legs firmly enmeshed between Yifan's thighs, and their hips are rubbing together. 

Yifan inhales smoothly, evenly, while he tries his hardest not to fling Baekhyun off. They certainly didn't fall asleep this way. He held Baekhyun for a long time last night and kissed his ears and let the hybrid nuzzle his chest. When Baekhyun finished crying, he walked him towards the bed and told him to sleep. Apparently all that worked, but somewhere in the middle of the night, or perhaps it happened just recently, the hybrid had rolled on top of him. And he remains there now, steadily and shallowing rutting against Yifan's crotch. Worse yet, they're both completely hard. 

It takes all Yifan's willpower to gently roll Baekhyun to the side. The hybrid whines in his sleep, and his hands are like claws. He whimpers, eyes scrunching tightly together. Yifan's skin is tingling so much, his thighs can still feel the red hot heat of Baekhyun's length where it nestled against his own. 

He curses silently. It's still dark outside, though the dawn is near. Kyungsoo won't be awake yet. Yifan stealthily alights from the bed and pulls his robe tighter around his body. He needs clothes. He needs to cover up. He needs to... take care of this problem, or else wait and see if it goes away. He fumbles towards a low table for a jug of water and pours himself a cup. Half of it spills down his chin. The water though is cool against his neck and collar bones where it splashes down, but not nearly cold enough to fix this. And when Yifan thinks he can fix this, it won't be with Baekhyun still in the room squirming around in Yifan's bed as if unconsciously groping for Yifan's presence. 

_Well... damn_ , Yifan thinks, when his manhood suddenly jumps again. 

His pajamas are on the floor by the foot of the bed. He pulls them on commando. It's better than nothing, he decides, except now there is coarse fabric brushing against his length and Baekhyun is still whimpering. The hybrid strains across the mattress, turning in his sleep, and half of his robe falls away from his shoulders. 

A light sweat breaks out across Yifan's forehead. His back, arms and legs feel unbelievably warm, and that's not including all the stuff between his legs. He wrenches off the robe, aching to breathe, and turns his back on the bed. He can't... he doesn't want... well actually, he does... but looking at Baekhyun right now in his half naked _eager_ state may kill him yet. 

"Yifan?" comes a soft, panting voice.

Yifan plants his palms against the surface of the dresser. Anything less and his legs could fail, reducing him to a pool of distress on the floor. 

"Yifan?" says the voice again. Yifan holds in a moan, breathes slowly, and then spares a glance behind him. Maybe, maybe Baekhyun is still asleep and he can go on pretending to ignore him... However, there's a rustling of the bed sheets and Yifan knows before he even looks that the hybrid has awoken.

His mouth is too dry to speak, but he turns around. Baekhyun is sitting up in the bed, his face is flushed, and his robe lays flattened around his hips. His shoulders are so delicate, and his hair is mess. So many things he could be focusing on, but right now Yifan can't help his gaze where it drifts lower, to the peak of Baekhyun's pale nipples or his soft tummy. Everything below that is fortunately covered. Not that Yifan can't still feel it against his skin. 

"You're awake?" he coughs. 

Baekhyun shivers. He rubs his eyes awake. They're still reddish from where he cried the night before. Yifan seriously wants to hold him.

"I... yeah." 

The hybrid fidgets on the bed, pulling the sheets around himself, squirming where he sits. It's all very distracting and Yifan can't help the words that pop out of his mouth. 

"Are you still in a rut?" 

"No." Baekhyun's eyes, clearer now, seem to trace Yifan's lower body. "Are you?"

Another wave of heat strikes Yifan from head to toe. He never imagined Baekhyun looking at him like that. His eyes are hooded, he bites down on his lower lip, and his gaze sweeps only as high as Yifan's face before he lowers it again, to the very obvious bulge beneath Yifan's pants. 

Baekhyun squirms again, but this time he whines like he's in pain. One hand disappears between the blankets and Yifan's heart rate doubles again. 

"I don't know what to do," Baekhyun halfway laughs, head falling to the side as his eyes scan the room, like he's looking for escape. "Was I... on you?"

Slowly, Yifan nods.

Before Baekhyun can apologize though, and Yifan is sure he plans to do just that, he breaks in. "I didn't mind though... if you were... worried."

Baekhyun cocks his head again, and this time a pale smile, still halfway embarrassed, blossoms meekly across his face. "But you got out of bed."

"I didn't want to... I was having... problems myself."

This time Baekhyun's laugh feels like the gentle tinkling of rain upon a newly sowed garden. It's perfect, beautiful, delicate, and everything Yifan needs. Yifan blushes, but he takes a step closer to the bed, hesitant in case Baekhyun suddenly shows signs of being wary. When there are none, he finds himself standing close, knees nudging the mattress. Baekhyun licks his lips again and his eyes continue to waver up and down, hungrily. He reaches for him, one bare arm crossing the divide. Yifan's breath hitches, Baekhyun's warm fingers dance across his hip, just above the waistband of his pajamas. He shivers and closes his eyes. He doesn't dare touch the hybrid back, but he hears Baekhyun crawl out of the blankets and when he pries his eyelids apart Baekhyun is kneeling before him, their eyes on the same level. 

Baekhyun pleads, silently. His eyes are warm, gaze caressing Yifan's skin, and it's not unlike how he carefully touches each of Yifan's shoulders while steadying his balance. 

Yifan melts into him and their lips finally meet. It's soft. Everything about Baekhyun is soft. His lips, his cheeks, hair hair and his body, his slight little gasps when he realizes they're kissing. Yifan almost pulls apart, but then Baekhyun winds his arms around his waist and cleaves to him. He's naked, but he smells like rose and bathwater.

How long, how long has it taken to kiss him like this. Their lips grow warm, damp, neither fully daring enough to break their connection, or to push it further. Yifan trails a hand lower across Baekhyun's smooth back, fingers barely caressing the top of the hybrid's bottom. A fluffy tail suddenly whacks against his wrist and Baekhyun squeaks. 

"Yifan..." he whispers, eyes finding bliss when Yifan strokes his tail near its base. Yifan uses the extra appendage to steer their hips closer. Baekhyun's length, rock hard and beating, warm, slots against Yifan's clothed cock as they rock together. Baekhyun paws at his waist, keening loudly. Their lips break away for one long moment while Baekhyun stares right into his gaze. For one of the first times since they met, Yifan stares back and doesn't fear where their relationship might go. 

"Baekhyun," he echoes, before smooshing their lips together once more. 

The hybrid pulls him down, switching their positions until it's Yifan laying back on the bed and Baekhyun hovering above them. Just like how they woke up, only this time it's conscious. They don't speak, don't fill the air with unnecessary sound. There's only the slight pants from each of them filling the room, and their mouths moving together, Baekhyun's hips rutting down, Yifan's moving up. Yifan chases the friction of their thrusts. His back arches into the bed, one hand cupping Baekhyun along the soft peaks of his soft lower cheeks, the other still stroking his tail. Baekhyun in turn whines and moans, silent pleas which he attaches to Yifan's skin, to his lips, to his chin, to the sensitive crease of Yifan's neck.

They guide each other, press against each other. And Baekhyun's teeth open wide when he draws close to to his end. Between shivers and quakes he clamps down above Yifan's shoulder and bites. It's hard enough Yifan feels the pain, not hard enough to be unbearable. Baekhyun stays latched there when his hips quicken and a warm gush of come flows from his cock. Still Yifan thrusts against him, the friction between his pajamas and Baekhyun's warmth finally tipping him over the edge. He keens long and hard, thighs clenching, head falling back as his gasps and pants and lays his neck open bare. His hips stutter and fall short, Baekhyun's breaths soften and he kisses the spot he accidentally bit, soothing away the pain the best way he knows fit. While Yifan comes down, Baekhyun is still kissing him, back up his neck, across his Adam's apple and up his jaw until their lips meet again. Yifan musters every last bit of energy to kiss him again, and this time to make it deep, full of emotions. He wraps his arms tightly across the hybrid's back, hugging him close. 

"Baekhyun..." he whispers, once their heads fall apart. The hybrid gasps, somewhere between a pant and a laugh of wonderment. Perhaps it's been too much for him to form actual words. So Yifan takes the opportunity to lay out his thoughts as succinctly as he can. "Baekhyun... I think... I mean I'm pretty sure I'm in love with you..."


	12. Eleven

“Really?” Baekhyun is quiet for a moment as he lifts his body up, resting on forearms. They just kissed and made out and did… other things - Yifan cringes now at the cold wetness down the front of his pajamas - yet suddenly Baekhyun is looking at him wide-eyed again with a fresh blush running down his face. “You… love me?” he asks softly. The corners of his mouth turn upwards, the hint of a smile in the making.

Yifan clears his throat and says gruffly, “Y-yeah. I love you.”

Baekhyun’s smile continues to grow. He rolls onto his side into the warm spot next to Yifan’s body. The blankets start to pull and tangle. Yifan rolls with him so that they’re lying facing each other. There’s a slight thumping sound from Baekhyun’s tale under the comforter and his face is bright red and beaming.

“Wow.”

Yifan stares at him. “Wow? That’s all you’re going to say?”

Baekhyun nods his head, now officially beaming. One ear sticks straight up into the air, the other is folded over, and he’s never looked so much like an adorable puppy than now. Except that he’s still naked, and Yifan’s memory isn’t so bad he’s forgotten how sexy Baekhyun’s voice was when they were slotted together.

Baekhyun continues to roll until he’s on his back, body curved, sheets pulled up to his waist. He’s still grinning, but he headbutts Yifan until his nose is nestled against Yifan’s bare chest and Yifan’s arm around his shoulders. He closes his eyes, squirming just the slightest. Then, in the barest whisper he says to the air, “Yifan loves me… wow.”

He shivers. Yifan reaches down and pulls up another comforter to cover them both. Baekhyun sighs happily when it’s tucked firmly under his chin and Yifan’s other hand returns to his stomach, his waist, under the covers.

“Yifan loves me…” Baekhyun whispers again, still smiling. “Wow, because… I love him too.”

  
  
  


It’s kind of an understatement to say that after that, a few things change around the estate. On the outside, there’s nothing too different. Baekhyun is still Baekhyun and he still does Baekhyun-like things, like accidentally fall asleep in the study with his head resting on Yifan’s lap, or bound after him when they’re touring the fields. He still eats all of Junmyeon’s candy and begs for second breakfasts from Cook, and every night he falls asleep cuddled sweetly under Yifan’s arm (or rather, sprawled across the bed while Yifan holds onto the edge of the mattress for dear life).

But on the inside, and only a few people are even aware of this, things are very, very different. The fact that Baekhyun likes kissing, a lot. And snuggling. And the occasional romp in bed, or wherever Baekhyun thinks he can get it.

Kyungsoo has started voluntarily letting Yifan sleep in a half hour later than normal ‘since it’s winter and the sun isn’t up yet’. There are also those few times where he came into the room at decidedly indelicate times… Junmyeon as well learns to knock extra loud when entering certain rooms. Yifan thinks the stable hand once caught them coming in from a joint ride with Baekhyun wrapped around Yifan’s back with his hand down Yifan’s trousers. The boy fortunately stayed silent, and Yifan can’t look him in the eye anymore.

“So,” Junmyeon inquires one day, after Yifan had no choice but to demand Baekhyun give him at least twenty minutes to get some work done.

“So?” he asks, not wanting to meet Junmyeon’s eye either.

The land manager chuckles, uncrosses his arms, and folds them back the other way. “Just curious when you’ll be informing your dear mother of this… development.”

“And by development, you mean the market increases on next year’s wool?” Yifan deflects.

Junmyeon snorts and ignores him. “I take you’re going to keep him forever? Honestly, I’m happy for you. You look so much less stressed these days.”

Yifan mumbles his thanks and doesn’t answer directly.

He’s been wondering how exactly they should define this. Are they lovers, and is that it? Life companions? He can’t exactly marry Baekhyun. No vicar or state registrar could or possibly would perform a ceremony, and if they were to ever go away together somewhere else, Yifan could never admit what they actually mean to each other. Perhaps it’s fortunate then that he has no desire to leave the estate or live anywhere else. Let other men his age travel the world and see the sights. He had enough of that when he was younger when he decided there was no place like home. Baekhyun also seems to have no desire to go anywhere. He won’t even go with Yifan into the village the few times Yifan has asked.

“You’re really fine? Staying here always?” he asks the hybrid later after talking with Junmyeon.

They’re walking side by side along a perimeter fence line heading towards the sheep barns. Baekhyun is giddy, bouncing every few steps to keep himself warm.

The hybrid turns on his heels and walks backwards before him, smiling up into Yifan’s warm expression. “Of course.”

Some days, Yifan really wants to ask him though: where did you come from, why are you hiding here? Was there some kind of trauma in his past? Did he wander or run away from somewhere that he ended up in the village, so sad and pitiful the day Yifan found him?

Baekhyun trips on a root and stumbles. Yifan darts forward to catch him, fingers tightening around the hybrid’s wrist, and he pulls him back. The rebound finds Baekhyun panting and laughing against the front end of Yifan’s body. So he hugs him tightly and laughs in return.

“That’s what happens when you aren’t watching where you’re going,” Yifan chides lightly.

“So carry me,” Baekhyun responds. He jumps and Yifan flails, but he manages to catch the hybrid around the butt, Baekhyun wrapping his legs around Yifan’s waist. He practically manhandles Yifan’s neck, and his tails comes loose from under his jacket, whacking Yifan’s arms, one side and then the other.

“You could have waited for me to say something,” Yifan mumbles, balance precarious as he steadies both himself and the hybrid in his arms. They’ll look really stupid if they both end up in the snow together.

“But you caught me.”

His ears flutters by his head, and Yifan’s heart melts into goo. He sighs and hefts the hybrid further up his chest, giving over to this fate and walking anew.

At the low braying of the sheep, Baekhyun finally hops down and runs to investigate. Minseok is out with the other shepherds, and all of them wave cheerily at Baekhyun when he approaches.

“Ahh, just the hybrid I wanted to see!” Minseok beams. He sees Yifan a second later and gives his old friend a smile and a nod. “Yifan. Nice to see you too.”

“Good to see I’m so well loved around here,” Yifan jokes.

“Well,” Minseok admits, “I did want to see you too. We have a new face around here… a traveler. Says he knows something about ranch work and well… he kind of looks like the sheep so…” His voice trails off, and for the first time Yifan realizes there’s a strange face running about the animals. Baekhyun too stops to stare and his head cocks. There’s a look of bewilderment on his face, half curious, half jealous to see… another hybrid running around the estate that’s just a little cuter than him.

“Huh,” says Yifan intelligently.

Minseok blushes and scratches his eyebrow. “I uh… well, since you know… you didn’t seem to mind it when Baekhyun came around, I took a wild guess you’d be alright with me hiring a hybrid…”

Yifan just stares, and Baekhyun takes a few steps closer towards him, like he’s in any danger of being supplanted by another of his kind. Yifan nods at Minseok, a small acknowledgement. The head shepherd then cups his hands around his lips and calls out, “Hey! Hey, Lu Han! Come here for a sec. You should meet the boss and…”

His voice trails off hopefully just the strange hybrid turns around and Yifan gets his first good look at a fuzzy headed poodle hybrid with long puffy ears and a stubby black tail to match. His tongue is sticking out where he’s panting in exhaustion, and Minseok’s cheeks are just a little bit too red to go unnoticed.

“Huh,” says Yifan again.

 

 


	13. Twelve

"You sure about this?" 

Minseok shakes his head. He and Yifan aren't looking at each other. They're watching the two hybrids size each other up. One collie, one poodle, about five steps apart just... sniffing the air, and thus each other.

"They're not gonna... you know..." Minseok suggests with a worrisome glance at Lu Han's rear end. 

Yifan shoves his elbow into the other's chest. "Of course not. They're not dogs." 

But Minseok's gaze doesn't alter. Yifan elbows him again with a course, "You're staring..."

"Oh, right." The shepherd shakes his head. "So, he can stay for a while, right?"

"Depends..." 

"Depends on what?"

"I don't know. I guess we could see what Baekhyun does. This is kind of his territory now."

He waits for Minseok to process his words and then turn to Yifan with a scathing look. "You'd let Baekhyun run him off just because he's another hybrid?!"

But Yifan is already laughing. "A joke! I promise. And anyways, look at that." He nods towards the two hybrids who have each taken another step closer. Still without speaking, they eye the other intently. But Lu Han has a noticeable bow to his head, to which Baekhyun suddenly grins, preening. His tail begins to wag. Lu Han smiles, a shy look in Minseok's direction before he returns Baekhyun's response, tail wobbling as well. They step forward the final step and, far from Minseok's vulgar suggestion of butt-sniffing, shake hands. 

"I guess it's settled," says Yifan. 

He steps forward to welcome the newcomer, Minseok right on his heels. And Baekhyun, in his new stunning roll of alpha male, turns towards Yifan and immediately dips his arm in between Yifan's coat jacket and shirt. He stays there, warm and cozy with half his body tucked against Yifan's chest, a smug smile on his face even as his ears flinch in the wind. He inclines his head, ears folded over. Meanwhile the poodle hybrid approaches. With Minseok's coaxing, Lu Han holds his hand out to be shaken as well. 

"I... I'm told I have you to thank for the work opportunities."

Yifan has nothing to say except, "Of course." Truthfully, since Baekhyun had been doing this job, they don't need another person. Yifan won't mind though if having another worker to feed would leave Baekhyun more time to rest. "Room and board, plus a small wage."

"I've already told him he can stay in my cabin. I do have the extra bed," says Minseok. 

The poodle's short tail wags a couple more times, although he isn't looking directly at the shepherd. Yifan assumes that's a yes, Lu Han is agreeable with these conditions. 

"Come to the estate this afternoon. You can meet Junmyeon and discuss the details."

Lu Han beams even more and nods his head. "I'll be there, sir. Thank you." 

"Call me Yifan, please."

Baekhyun makes a small little grunt against the cuff of Yifan's collar. Lu Han's eyes shift to other hybrid, then back to Yifan, and his smile drops a tiny hair. "Thank you... sir."

 

 

 

An hour later, while they wait for the other hybrid to come in, Yifan sits in his study with Baekhyun on his lap. The hybrid's legs hang off either side of Yifan's waist, nose buried in the crook of his neck. Baekhyun's ear tickles his chin. Snowball, Baekhyun's faithful shadow most days is laying across Yifan's feet under the desk. Two great, oversized pups that Yifan has to put up with, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

He came in here to work. Junmyeon will be in any moment. Minseok promised to bring Lu Han around and show him the way. But instead of letting Yifan use this time productively, Baekhyun just wants to cuddle. 

"What's the matter?" he asks.

The hybrid murmurs, sighing. He doesn't answer.

"Baekhyun?" Yifan prods again. 

He thinks he knows. It was after all, fairly obvious. Baekhyun is either wildly jealous of another hybrid encroaching on his territory (and of Yifan as well, however silly that is) or he's thinking about something else entirely. Like his past. He's willing to bet on the second option.

They'd heard part of Lu Han's story from Minseok's lips only. A stray, lost and alone. Something about having been abandoned many, many years ago when he was only a pup and he'd been making his way on his own ever since, wandering the countryside. It sounds familiar in the vaguest of vague ways. Baekhyun hasn't shared his own story before either.

"Are you jealous?" Yifan asks. 

Baekhyun seizes upon the question. Lifting his head from Yifan's shoulder, he frowns for half a second. Then he nods vigorously, "Yes," and puts his head down.

Yifan sighs. "Are you sure that's it?"

Maybe Junmyeon has another book on how to deal with situations like this. It worked so well before with the rutting issue. Is there proper code for specifically breaching a hybrid's inner feelings and drawing them out, or is Baekhyun much too human that Yifan will have to tread a little differently. Gently, with grace and understanding, as with every human being and their carefully devised smoke screens. 

"Why do you ask?" Baekhyun mumbles instead.

Yifan stares at his desk, at the letter he opened last night and has since folded carefully back into its envelope. His mother's townhouse address blazes up at him, making Yifan's stomach begin to churn. If he could at all avoid this trip, he would. He doesn't want to go into town. He definitely doesn't want to see his mother. If he's lucky he may be able to avoid her completely, but there's still that matter of visiting the bank personally since the bankers will not come to see him. 

A week, perhaps two. The time it'll require him being away. 

"Baekhyun, I want to ask you something..."

"If it's about why I'm upset, then please just don't." 

Contrary to Baekhyun's clingy mood, he unwinds himself from Yifan's body and begins to fidget, a wounded expression on his face. 

"I wasn't..." Yifan's jaw drops in shock. He grows speechless, watching Baekhyun climb off his lap with a morose expression. "Baekhyun?"

The hybrid stops, and scratches his head. With his lips pursed, not even pouty but a full-on frown, he looks so small and lost. Yifan desperately wants to reach for him, stop him, and ask him again what is wrong. But he's already done that, to no avail. Baekhyun starts back towards the door, slowly, casually, as if obeying the commands of his head and not his body. 

Yifan thinks he's going to walk out just like that, that somehow... in this whole set-up today, that Yifan has done something unforgivably wrong. And he doesn't know what, why, or how to fix it. Baekhyun was so happy earlier. And he wasn't necessarily upset at the presence of another hybrid. So then, what is it?

"Baek..." he says one last time, when the hybrid pauses at the door, his hand already turning the knob. 

Baekhyun freezes, then turns around. A bare hint of a smile, apologetic at its core, spreads and tugs at the edge of his mouth. Carefully, he backtracks to where Yifan still sits, leans over and kisses him on the cheek. He's about to stand up and move away again, but Yifan touches his face and nudges him closer center. Yifan may have initiated the kiss, but it's him who gasps airily when Baekhyun responds, a wet kind of hunger Yifan hasn't seen since this morning, before they met Lu Han. 

The hybrid stands up, and his smile is softer. Yifan stares at him warily. He rolls his tongue along his lower lip, reminiscing and wondering. 

"I'm sorry, Yifan. I'm not mad at you. Just... my head hurts right now. Wait for me?"

"Alright."

Snowball follows him out. 

 

 

 

 

 

The next time Yifan sees him again is dinner that night. He comes in late though, leaving only Yifan and Junmyeon in the dining room to start off the meal, since Yifan invited him to stay. Truthfully, he wasn't sure he wouldn't be eating alone with the way Baekhyun had made himself scarce. 

His conversation with Lu Han had gone well. The hybrid—who very kindly asked if they never refer to him as a  _poodle_ —was more like Baekhyun than Yifan expected. Cheerful, playful and carefree, free with his compliments of Yifan's estate, but vague with his own backstory. He wonders if that's a hybrid thing, or if it's just characteristic of people with a traumatic background. Yifan stayed for only the introductions and then let Junmyeon handle the rest.

His manager clears his throat while placing a napkin delicately across his lap. "He did give a work reference, you know. I'll send the letters tomorrow," he says about Lu Han.

"A recent one?" 

"Yes. Three months ago. Also a few other odd jobs and employers dating from two years ago and forward."

"So, nothing before that?" Yifan says. He's thinking more about Baekhyun than Lu Han of course, but he's still curious. "You didn't insist on references when Baekhyun came around."

Junmyeon chuckles. "That's because he never volunteered them. And also, you seemed quite attached. Even in the beginning."

"Are you saying I'm a better judge of character, equal to and above any references?" He laughs.

"Something like that." 

The door opens and Baekhyun waltzes in looking happy in the normal way. A sense of relief washes down Yifan's spine to see _his Baekhyun_ return like that.

They've never actually fought. And the only two times they were ever unhappy with each other was when Snowball destroyed the table setting on top of Yifan's mother, and the day Baekhyun went into an accidental rut. Still, even with his earlier assurances that he just needed time, the separation hadn't set well in Yifan's mind. Seeing him now just compounds the earlier issue, but Baekhyun came back just like he said he would. That should be enough for Yifan. And it is.

The hybrid freezes, and Yifan knows it's because he was gaping, his thoughts too revealing. Yifan turns his head back to Junmyeon, but he's still smiling, and he knows the blush hasn't gone away again. Baekhyun softens as well and strides towards his chair, right beside Yifan.

"I heard there was steak," he says shyly. 

Beneath the tablecloth, their fingertips touch and Baekhyun winds his palm through Yifan's, never letting go for the rest of the meal. So what that it means he has to eat with his left hand only, and if he spills the soup course all over the front of his shirt. Yifan squeezes his hand even more tightly, and resolutely ignores Junmyeon's soft chuckles. 

 

 

 

 

He has to dig Baekhyun out of the blankets the following morning. Yifan finds a foot first, then a bare ankle. Then a thigh. Somewhere in the night, Baekhyun turned sideways in the bed and was sleeping horizontally beneath the sheets. He drags Baekhyun out butt first while the hybrid wakes up with a groan. Not a sexy one either.

Yifan's laughing by the time Baekhyun yawns, his pale arms stretching high above his head. Mornings may be one of Yifan's favorite times of the day where he can stare at him. He reclines sideways in the bed, head resting in his palm while he waits for Baekhyun to blink and yawn a few more times and wipe the sleep out of his eyes.

"Morning," he says gruffly.

Baekhyun shakes out his head, hair flying everywhere and his ears flapping wildly. They come to a rest finally, limp against the side of his head, then Baekhyun's eyes focus and he smiles sheepishly at Yifan. 

"Morning."

He plops back over again, but this time across Yifan's chest. 

"I don't want to get up," the hybrid whines. 

Yifan starts to laugh again, but then he gasps. Baekhyun's hand has disappeared beneath Yifan's pants, groping without finesse due to his just awakened state. 

"Baekhyun!" he moans. "I thought you said..."

The hybrid laughs. "I said _I_ didn't want to get up. I didn't say anything about you..."

But he releases Yifan a few seconds later, still too properly sleepy to focus. Yifan tackles him into a hug instead, half relieved and half disappointed at the same time. He needs to talk to him. He needs to at least tell Baekhyun about his plans and give him a chance to respond.

"Baekhyun..." he whispers a few minutes later. 

"Hmm?"

"That thing I wanted to ask you yesterday...?"

"Yeah?" 

"I need to go away for a week. Maybe longer."

"Where to?"

Baekhyun sits up from their cuddle and blinks his eyes rapidly again. "Why?"

"To town. To see my mother, and visit the bank. Mostly to visit the bank, and I've already decided to stay somewhere else. With a friend."

The hybrid huffs and lays back down, right where he was before, bare chest to Yifan's front and he stays there, thinking. "Okay. That's fine. I'll be alright."

"No, Baekhyun," Yifan says, hesitating. "I wanted to know... will you go with me?"

 

 


	14. Thirteen

Yifan has mixed feelings about this. For one, he was able to persuade Baekhyun to make the four hour drive into town and stay with him for two weeks. Secondly, Baekhyun is rather taken with the car ride, and the sights, and the sounds, and the smells. But, he’s not particularly enjoying it.

There’s an underlying stillness about the hybrid. He holds his body stiffly. His tail never wags. Only his ears perk up but not out of excitement, as Yifan is used to seeing.

He pulls him away from the window as they drive through a less well-to-do area of town and Baekhyun plops backwards, landing on Yifan’s lap. It’s a comfortable, intimate position, most days. Right now, with his arm wrapped around Baekhyun’s middle, Yifan just feels the hybrid stir with a vibrating kind of tension. He presses a kiss to the side of Baekhyun’s neck. Baekhyun squirms, but then he smiles and some of his stony aura melts and he relaxes.

They stay that way until they reach the hotel. It’s a dark little building on the outside, and surely less cozy than if they had stayed with Yifan’s mother in her townhouse, but inside it’s clean, pleasant, well-staffed, and _much_ less stressful. Baekhyun tails him dutifully through the entryway, always one step behind in the chaos of the hotel’s resident staff carrying luggage and trunks around them.

“I thought you said we were staying with a friend?” Baekhyun whispers, looking around suspiciously.

“We are. This hotel belongs to him-”

“Mr. Wu?” says one of the greeters, and Yifan turns to him. “We’ve been expecting you. Would you like to see your rooms first? Mr. Zhang requests you have tea with him later, but of course if you would prefer getting settled first?”

Yifan nods, pleased. “That would be excellent, thank you.”

The man peers around Yifan’s shoulder, only a tad bit unprofessional. “Is your… will you require any extra specifications for your hybrid? We have only the one room as you originally requested, but-”

“Baekhyun will stay with me.”

Yifan swings his arm back to tug the hybrid forward so that he’s standing beside him, like an equal, instead of hovering behind.

There is no further discussion. He and Baekhyun are shown to their rooms, one sprawling sitting area with a bedroom beyond, and a luxurious bathroom off to the side of the room. Yixing has given them the best suite, it appears. Probably second only to that man’s own quarters.

He told Baekhyun a little about him on the way here. They were school friends, both sons to mildly wealthy families, although Yixing’s family were foreign. New money, as the natives liked to call him. Yifan came from older roots, but he liked the boy he met there, and he liked the man he’d grown up to become. He was rather looking forward to meeting again and catching up, and he had no worries that Baekhyun might be left behind in uncaring hands, not with Yixing looking out for him while Yifan promised to be busy.

“How is it? Do you like the view?” Yifan asks the hybrid.

Baekhyun is staring out the window. They’re on the fourth floor so he can see even beyond the streets they travelled.

He huffs. “It’s pretty. I like it.”

“You’re trying extra hard to pretend you do,” says Yifan, sadly. “Are you sure you’re alright? You’ve been… tense,” he adds, for better lack of a word.

“I don’t like town. Not much. That’s all, really.” Baekhyun smiles, like he’s trying to persuade Yifan. Like he’s trying to persuade himself. Yifan assumes that’ll be it for the conversation, but a minute later Baekhyun takes a flying leap across the room and lands, back first, on the bed. The mattress bounces a couple times, and the posts wobble, but ultimately the bed is solid and wellmade. Yifan follows him over and sits beside him. They stay that way, drawing calm comfort from the other. Until Baekhyun speaks again.

“I was abandoned in a town like this. Not here, exactly. But it was like this. A maze of people, all minding their own business. Barely looking at a hybrid puppy sitting along the side of the road. I was eleven years old.”

Streams of questions pour through Yifan’s thoughts. Where was he born, who did he live with? Who abandoned him and why? None of which he asks out loud, because Baekhyun has never before divulged this much of his past. Yifan doesn’t want to jinx this. He knows absolutely nothing about what it’s like, or how Baekhyun must have lived. To give false comfort in something he doesn’t understand might scare the hybrid for good.

“I guess they thought I’d be more like… doglike?” Baekhyun suggests airily. “Hybrid pups, you know… are very similar to real puppies.”

“I… didn’t know that.”

“So I suppose I was a fun little pup. But then I got older. And they didn’t know how to treat me anymore. Was I a dog or a boy? I didn’t even know the answer to that question before they left me on a random street corner and I couldn’t find my way home. That’s why I don’t like town, Yifan. It gives me nightmares.”

Yifan leans sideways onto the bed, and Baekhyun rolls over till their eyes are level. “I won’t let you have nightmares, Baekhyun,” he says, tender.

“You sure about that?” Baekhyun’s eyes sparkle. Yifan suspects it’s because of unshed tears. “Sure you didn’t bring me to town just to leave me here again?”

“Baekhyun!” Yifan gasps. “How… no!”

But the hybrid is smiling, and his soft laughter slices through the room. He leans forward and shoves his head into Yifan’s chest, planting himself there while Yifan drags his arm around him.

“I know you wouldn’t, Yifan… I know it. But I still fear it irrationally.”

 

 

 

 

 

By the time they make it to tea, Yixing is already relaxing with a second tray of sandwiches and cookies. Crumbs fall from his waistcoat when he gets up to greet them. Yifan with a hug, and Baekhyun as well. If Yixing is at all bothered by the ‘friend I’m bringing along’ having two triangular fluffy ears and a tail, he doesn’t announce it. He eyes the hybrid’s face with earnest intentions and then nods to Yifan as if he approves.

“It’s been too long, old man.”

“Several years too long,” Yifan agrees. “Thank you for hosting us-”

“Oh, it’s nothing. Nothing at all. Anything to protect you from that woman you call a mother. Odious woman, is she not, Baekhyun? Baekhyun is your name, yes? I’m assuming you’ve met her.”

The hybrid grins. “Once, yes.”

“Once is too many times. Do have a seat, please! You’re my guests. And just because I drank all of the tea doesn’t mean there isn’t more on its way.”

The door opens, right on time, with a young woman pushing a trolley.

“Thank you, Flora, darling,” Yixing says as she lays out the tray and fills each of them with a cup. Yifan personally adds cream and lots of sugar to Baekhyun's cup, knowing the hybrid isn't terribly fond of the substance, but still given over to good manners when he's forced to drink it. The woman does the same for Yixing. She hovers awfully close, closer than should proper. Yifan glances at the casually placed hand on the back of her waist, and Flora’s slight blush and a wink at Yixing when she exits.

He always was a ladies’ man. Mild-mannered and a gentleman, but ever appreciative of the female sex.

They wait for the door to close. Baekhyun sips on his cup of tea, more daintily than he would at home. His eyes traverse the length of the room, taking in Yixing’s eccentricities with decoration which have always been a bit… modern. No dark wood panels and impressionist paintings lining his walls like the rest of the hotel, but clean lines and patterns of a varied black, white and gold, and the furniture too. The occasional vibrant portrait of a woman or landscape matched with a potted plant completes the style. The whole thing has a very Yixing-feel to it. Proper, sophisticated, new.

“Have you any plans this evening? A friend of mine has procured seats to the theater. I thought you might like to go?”

“Is this a friend I know?” Yifan asks.

“Probably not. Zhixiang? Have I mentioned his name to you before now? Great chap. We are of two identical minds, and have so much fun together. I know you'll just love him.”

Yifan clears his throat and looks at Baekhyun, attempting to read his mind. On one hand, he doesn’t want to tire the hybrid, or stress him out with too much time about town. On the other, he’s about to entrust half of Baekhyun’s daytime proclivities to this man, and he’d rather spend an evening seeing how they get along in person before letting Yixing run loose. Plus, there's this new friend of Yixing's, and if Yifan guess right, Zhixiang will probably be quite the dandy.

The hybrid, however, far from looking worried, looks positively excited. “Theater? I.. I would be allowed to go to the theater?” One ear dangles, while the other stretches hopefully towards the ceiling.

They'd have to borrow or buy him some clothes. Yifan only brought a few stuffy outfits, and most of them reek of 'country' attire. Baekhyun has even less a proper wardrobe, not that this seems to worry him right now. There's the whole fact of his species which is the first thing one could fret about.

But Yixing doesn't appear to think it'll be a problem.

He scoffs. “Of course you would. I’ll admit this city isn’t as friendly to all outsiders or people they don’t understand, but with us… Zhixiang has a lot of money. I’m a known face, and already somewhat of an oddity.” In a hushed voice, he leans across the table and whispers, “ _Nobody can naysay us here_.” He gives a wink, and Yifan relaxes. This will all be fine. It will all be entirely fine… There’s no way Yixing can corrupt Baekhyun in just two weeks…


	15. Fourteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter contains smut.

It’s late one of the evenings Yifan gets back to the hotel. He spent half the day with his bankers and investors, then most of the evening attending a seminar about the new achievements in farming technology. It’s the kind of thing he should have sent Junmyeon to, but he didn’t have time to send a message to his manager and besides, he was already in town himself. If it keeps him occupied, thus too busy to make house calls with his mother, he’ll take it. Ever since he arrived at the hotel, he’s been fending off handwritten notes in his mother’s odious script informing him of all the ladies he should be wooing since Miss Amber Liu (“that hussy,” according to his mother) refused his suit. He and Baekhyun had a decent laugh about that, but it’s not enough to avoid further engagements. Perhaps he and Amber shouldn’t have been so hasty informing their respective relatives that _no, thank you, they would not be getting married_.

A footman escorts Yifan down from the cab in front of the hotel. A bellhop opens the front door. A few others of Yixing’s all-too-well-trained staff greet him in passing, offering a dozen services. He declines all except for a small tray of snacks and wine, not knowing what he’s going to find in his and Baekhyun’s hotel suite.

The hybrid has been incorrigibly lovely these days. Mopey, clingy, whiny, but all done good-naturedly. Honestly, Yifan enjoys it. He comes home each evening, and usually midday for lunch as well, to a lapful of grown puppy love and affection. Yifan’s always known it, but the temporary change of environment and Yifan’s ‘work’ schedule while he remains in town has turned Baekhyun into the biggest love-starved cuddler Yifan’s ever seen.

Speaking of cuddling, he woke up this morning to the hybrid’s foot in his face, and Baekhyun’s loudly-breathing mouth puffing hot air onto his ankles. It’s a miracle, he didn’t accidentally kick Baekhyun in the face, and be kicked in turn.

The first room when he opens it is dark. Yifan locks the door and sets his key beside the table. Then he begins to strip the tie and cravat from his neck, leaving it on the back of a chair to be picked up later, along with his suit jacket. It’s times like this he misses Kyungsoo, although he definitely doesn’t miss his manservant’s judging-not-judging looks when Baekhyun accidentally prances through their room naked. If those times even were accidents.

The hybrid is asleep when Yifan peeks into their room. A small light still burns in the corner opposite the bed, and there’s a slight stirring under the covers. Perhaps he’s not entirely asleep after all. For the time being, however, Yifan goes about their suite laying out his clothes for tomorrow and preparing his evening toiletries. A few minutes later there’s a knock on the door, and he quietly invites the bellhop to wheel in a cart with a covered dish and a chilled bottle of wine.

Yifan pops the cork and fills two glasses before he hears Baekhyun slip out of the bed and join him from behind.

“Mmmm,” says the hybrid as he wraps his arms around Yifan’s lower back. “What’s the occasion?”

“Must there be an occasion?” says Yifan.

Baekhyun isn’t wearing any clothes. Yifan’s toes curl inwards inside his fluffy hotel slippers. Baekhyun hums again, but doesn’t demand an answer.

“What did you do today?” Yifan asks him instead.

“Today? Oh… nothing much.” He dashes back to the bedroom while he speaks. A few seconds later he emerges again with half the comforter from off the bed wrapped around his small frame. It is a bit chilly in the room still. The once smoldering fireplace is now just reddened embers. Yifan takes a few minutes to add a couple small logs and some tinder so that it the fire takes again. Before he’s even done, Baekhyun drops onto the floor in front of it and rolls around in his blanket.

“Sit!” he begs.

Yifan brings over the two glasses of wine. “You still didn’t tell me what you did today?”

For a full week, he’s had to rely on Yixing’s powers of entertainment, and that always unnerves him.

“Today? Well, today I went with Yixing and Zhixiang shopping for new suits, and finally got some clothes that fit around my tail! It was exciting. Also, a bit embarrassing.”

“Embarrassing? For you?” Yifan laughs.

“Hey, I might be okay with you touching all my… sensitive parts, but that old man was kind of handsy with my tail, and his daughter kept playing with my ears. It was annoying!”

He doesn’t act terribly annoyed. Either way though, Yifan takes a long sip from his glass and then sets it aside. While Baekhyun is still halfway describing his clothes, Yifan pushes him to the ground and kisses him hard. The hybrid yelps. A second later his lips respond. He tastes like wine, but he smells like cologne, one of Yifan’s favorite brands. One of his bare legs kicks through the crumpled comforter, immediately wrapping around Yifan’s shin, and Yifan gives up the pretense. They tumble onto their sides as he strokes his way around the hybrid’s bare hip. Baekhyun gives another yelp of pleasure when he gently tugs the hybrid’s tail.

“Does that make you forget everything else today?” he asks. Baekhyun’s breaths are coming out shallow. He moans outright when Yifan returns his hand to the base of the tail and then under it, fingers stroking down across the back of his thighs, and then in between. Baekhyun parts them willingly. His eyes roll up in pleasure, then shut completely with another low moan. Yifan pushes him onto his back and trades hands, crawling over the smaller one’s body and shoving all remaining blanket out of his line of sight. For one long moment he lets his eyes feast. Baekhyun is clean, bathed, and ready for bed, wherever that bed may be. Here, Yifan judges. Right here, right now.

“Yifan…” Baekhyun wheezes, eyes still shut. “Are you going to sit there all night, or are you going to touch me?”

Touch him, Yifan thinks. He can do so much better than that.

Baekhyun’s hips buck when Yifan closes his lips around the tip of the hybrid’s cock and he lets out a gaping cry of shock. Yifan pins him down, laughs, and tries again. This time, with one hand pushing on his hip, he’s able suck his way halfway down. The small appendage grows just a little in Yifan’s mouth as he moans around its budding heat. He relaxes his jaw, then lets it sink even further towards his throat.

A hand smacks him in the head.

“Whoops,” says Baekhyun, chortling. “I didn’t mean to hit you. I just…” His words are lost in another groan. One of his legs shivers uncontrollably. Yifan strokes it with his unoccupied hand, up and down Baekhyun’s knee, back towards the inside of his thigh. Meanwhile he starts to bob his mouth around Baekhyun’s heated length. The veins feel strange against his tongue, pulsing, flaring. A whole range of sensations Yifan’s never felt before because he’s never tried this before. It had been quite the invitation though…

His throat muscles give out, and his hand on Baekhyun’s hip falters. It’s enough for the hybrid to nearly lose control and then buck again into Yifan’s throat. He gags, coughing as he pulls off, all to the cries of Baekhyun’s apologies and, “I can’t… I won’t last like that, Yifan… _help me._ ”

Baekhyun pulls himself off the ground and turns around. In the firelight, the offer is undeniable. He crouches on his forearms, head twisted on the blanket so that he’s looking back and Yifan has to make a hard decision between staring at the hybrid’s love-stricken face, and the ass presented to him wide and open.

His tail floats above him, straight up and waving slightly, but it’s between his two lower cheeks that Yifan’s gaze is directed to. Every muscle in Baekhyun’s body pulses. His balls hang tightly between his thighs, his cock dips dangerously low to the ground, weighted down by a small, modest, but growing knot formation.

Yifan licks a stripe up the back of his thigh to better distract himself. And Baekhyun. The hybrid’s cries are higher-pitched now, but he maintains his stance when Yifan does it again to the other side.

Baekhyun likes it when Yifan uses his tongue. That’s fact Yifan has discovered this week. He likes it against his lips, on his neck, and jaw. On his collarbones, and especially down his soft belly. But it’s here on his thighs, on his ass, that he likes it the most.

“Do you want to… move?” Yifan offers, kissing Baekhyun’s hip in poor consolation for the pain of stretching his body open.

“N-no,” says Baekhyun, stuttering still.

He inhales loudly, then readjusts his forearms and his head so that he’s ready to take on more.

By the time Yifan is ready to throw off his robe and line his cock up to Baekhyun’s entrance, it feels like an eternity has nearly passed. The fire is crackling low again, still warm, although Yifan and Baekhyun are producing enough heat themselves to warm a small army. Particularly Baekhyun. Yifan waits until he’s bottomed out, hips riding as close to Baekhyun as he can possibly get, tail sweeping across his face. With one hand he pushes Baekhyun’s tail to the side, eliminating the distraction so he can focus on the rest of the hybrid’s body. Namely, the tight clenching around his cock, and the hybrid’s own neglected cock with its now completely bulbous head.

The first time he saw it, Baekhyun was embarrassed. A knot, he called it, for sustained procreation, and he can produce it or contain it at will. It’s just that after being with Yifan a couple times, he no longer felt burdened to hide it.

It’s thick in Yifan’s hand, pulsing, aching to let go of its seed, and to be honest Yifan wonders what it would feel like in reverse. Would it hurt? Could it be any worse than what Baekhyun is taking from Yifan right now?

They build a rhythm together, Yifan pulling out slowly, then Baekhyun crying for him to ram himself back in. He strokes Baekhyun’s cock, fingers already familiar with the drag and what Baekhyun likes most. Just a little pressure on the tip and the knot, a light grip just behind it.

“Faster, Yifan, just go,” Baekhyun whispers, the loudest his voice can manage.

Yifan comes the fastest. He always does now, but through no fault of his self-control. They strike at the same time. Yifan’s hips shudder as he begins to orgasm. Baekhyun’s knot pulses one last time. He yelps across the room, almost a howl, a steady trickle now leaking from his cock and falling onto the blanket.  In a matter of seconds, Yifan pulls out. His body is barely recovered, but Baekhyun will be doing this for a while yet and he wants to position the hybrid as comfy as he can get.

“What?” Baekhyun pants. Yifan practically collapses onto the floor, pulling Baekhyun right along beside him so that he can kiss his lips unhindered. The hybrid’s hips continue to cant, his cock still pulsing, still leaking. It falls across Yifan’s thighs. He’ll worry about the mess later. Right now he holds Baekhyun’s chin tightly to himself and licks his way inside his mouth. He knees up against Baekhyun’s groin. His leg brushes against the Baekhyun’s knot, eliciting more groans which Yifan eagerly swallows.

“What are you doing?” the hybrid asks, when Yifan releases his lips and lays otherwise still beside him. He traces a hand along the side of his body, eyes in wonder because Baekhyun, like this, is beautiful.

“Watching you.”

The pleasure will last a while. Until Baekhyun’s knot rescinds, he’ll keep on crying, keep moaning. Yifan wants to help him out and enjoy the show. It’s almost as good as getting to come himself, maybe better, because the Baekhyun lying beside him is dead sexy, and Yifan caused that to happen.

“What else did you do today?” Yifan whispers against Baekhyun’s shoulder, kissing at random.

“You’re seriously going to ask me questions about my day when my cock is still hard?” Baekhyun retorts.

“You’re using your words well enough right now,” says Yifan with a smile. And for good measure, he takes Baekhyun’s knot lightly between his fingers and applies the tiniest amount of pressure.

The hybrid arches against the blanket, gasping. His ears lay outstretched beside his head, face scrunched in pained pleasure.

“You really want to know?” he asks.

“Yeah.”

Baekhyun’s come gathers on Yifan’s hand, slippery as it coats his fingers

“I learned how to play poker,” says the hybrid, his eyes closed tightly, breath hitching every other word.

“What?”

“Yixing and Zhixiang… they took me a betting room. Sweet-talked a barmaid into letting me pass. She blushed so red when Yixing kissed her cheek. Or maybe that was her makeup, I couldn’t tell.”

“They took you to a gambling den?!” Yifan sits up halfway, his body propped by one elbow.

Baekhyun opens his eyes but doesn’t react except to grab Yifan’s retreating hand and place it back on his knot.

“I may have lost some gold. But that’s okay. Zhixiang said I could make it up tomorrow. There’s another place they want to take me. Said there’s a whole ‘hot bed’ of dancing girls, and one in particular named Cecily who apparently has a thing for hybrids. I’m their ticket in-”

“You are not going there! If I have to strangle Yixing and tie him to a chair myself, I’ll… I’ll…”

But Baekhyun is laughing. His cock is still pulsing, come still leaking from the tip and onto both their bodies, but he’s actually laughing himself silly now.

“This isn’t funny, Baekhyun.”

“Ohh, but it is,” says the hybrid. His body arches one last time, one last sputter from his cock as he laughs and groans at the same time. It’s a strangled sound, and despite Yifan’s irate horror, he can’t help being distracted by Baekhyun’s body in the last throes of pleasure.

“They took you to a gambling den, Baekhyun, that is _not_ acceptable.”

And still the hybrid is cracking up. His breaths slow, stuttering until he’s calm, then he starts laughing again. Yifan wants to be angrier. He will be later. Except…

“Yifan, you’re so gullible. They didn’t take me gambling…” Baekhyun wheezes, smiling in between.

“They didn’t?!”

“No,” Baekhyun admits. “But they did tell me to tell _you_ that’s where we went, so I could see you fume. And so worth it! You should have seen your face!”

“My face?” Yifan gasps. “Whatever.”

“Whatever? I just came all over your hand for about five minutes straight, and you tell me whatever?”

Yifan turns away huffing. “That still wasn’t a funny story.”

“Oh, but it was.”

“Wasn’t.”

“Totally was.”

“Yixing and Zhixiang are dead to me.”

“Can you kill them after they take me to the park? We’re going to fly kites tomorrow and maybe take a hot air balloon, and it would be a shame if-”

Yifan sighs. But he turns his head towards the hybrid and kisses him on the lips to make him stop. Baekhyun gasps, but he's smiling when Yifan pulls away. He smiles even more when Yifan sais, “What if I go with you?”

“Huh?”

“I’ll go with you. Just to make sure…”

Baekhyun sits up expectantly. “Make sure of what?”

“That… that…” Yifan falters. “That there’s no dancing girl named Cecily on the hot air balloon with you tomorrow…”

“No Cecily?” Baekhyun pouts, a teasing look.

“No Cecily.”

“Good,” says the hybrid. “Because I think the ballooning master is a particularly wild female hooligan called Lydia, and Zhixiang is particularly anxious to get to know her, if you know what I mean.”

Yifan groans.

One more week, just one more week of this and he can take Baekhyun safely home.


	16. Fifteen

Spring comes to the estate early in the new year, and with it new changes. Only a year ago, Yifan couldn’t have imagined life like this. A year ago he’d known absolutely nothing about hybrids. A year ago he hadn’t met Baekhyun. A year ago he’d been alone, a single, lonely bachelor living in a mansion too big for himself and having no purpose other than to exist just for the sake of it.

There are new lambs being born all around him now. A couple of the mares are about to give birth to foals. The snow has mostly melted, and all the work hands are settling in for a new exciting year, this time with a newer, more robust mirth that comes to them in the form of a hybrid named Baekhyun. And his ‘litter’.

Yifan holds his horse steady beside Junmyeon on his slightly more nervous animal. They’ve bene riding together on the ridge overlooking one of the better views of Yifan’s estate. Out in the field, Baekhyun runs screaming with his hands in the air, kicking up mud and muck and frightening the sheep. Behind him though run two youngers from the neighboring estate. Their names are Chanhyunk and Soohyun, ten-year-old cocker spaniel hybrids who arrived only last month. Their adoptive mother, Hayi sits atop another horse on a ridge just yonder, next to Amber, a stern look on the face of the former, unequaled mirth on the latter.

Amber waves over to Yifan, and he gives a cursory nod in return. It’s been a nearly unendless winter for the two of them as they fight off one marriage proposal after another. It’s also been a source of humor on the part of Amber, who has decided to tour the continent this year instead of remaining at home.

‘And if I find someone I like while I’m gone, so be it, and no one can tell me differently!’

Yifan almost envies her ability to run away, but then he is not so similarly tempted. He has a home right here with Baekhyun, and he has his friends. Junmyeon has persuaded him to later on in the summer invite some guests to stay, old school friends of his that are known to be accepting of Yifan’s surely unorthodox… relationship.

Yifan is actually looking forward to it. On top of Yixing—no doubt Zhixiang as well—his school friends Jongin and Chanyeol will be visiting, and bringing along various friends as well. There will be associated family, siblings and the like, plus a host of family servants that Kyungsoo will no doubt love to bully around. It’s very likely going to be a tiring summer, being social, but Yifan can already guess Baekhyun will love it. With so many of his insecurities now gone, or at least diminished, the hybrid’s propension for loving people has come into full swing.

It’s just not so evident right now… because right now Baekhyun looks almost entirely dog, with his ears flapping in the breeze as he playfully chases and is in turn chased by the ‘puppies’, laughing, yipping on occasion, and he still he always keeps the children in sight and away from the more dangerous hilltops where they might fall and hurt themselves. It’s herding as its best. For a few minutes even, Yifan regrets that Baekhyun will never have the opportunity to sire a litter of his own, but right now, he is happy.

“Yifan?” Junmyeon interrupts his thoughts, momentarily diverting his attention as well.

“Hm?”

“It’s nearly three in the afternoon. We are due to meet Minseok soon. Should we…”

“Oh, right!” Yifan chides himself for losing track of the time, but Baekhyun is just too captivating to watch when he’s having fun. “Let’s be off then.”

They leave Baekhyun there, a playfully indignant “Hey!” echoing in their wake, but Yifan knows it’ll be alright. Baekhyun has a knack for finding him wherever he winds up. Right now, he’s unwilling to interrupt the play date. Amber will be taking Hayi along with her to the continent, the cocker spaniel siblings too, and there’s a rumor that Hayi’s beaux, the bulldog terrier and his master will be meeting them in Paris for a rendezvous. Only Baekhyun pretends to be sad that his new friends will be gone for so long.

  
  
 

Minseok’s cabin is the same as usual, warmer though now since the weather has turned nice. The shepherd has prepared for them a tray of tea and sandwiches. He greets them with a wide smile when he invites them in.

Despite being raised in finer settings, Yifan has always loved the place Minseok calls his home. Even when he was a young boy, apprenticed to the man who lived here before him, it became a sanctuary for Yifan whenever he needed to get away. Now, over a decade later and more than an adult, it has the same nostalgic feel. Junmyeon and Yifan settle into a pair of wooden chairs around Minseok’s table, and Yifan habitually looks around for Lu Han. The poodle hybrid, however, is not inside.

“Well then. Lovely weather we’re having?” Junmyeon starts off the conversation with a decided pleasantry.

Minseok smiles. Yifan looks at his land manager with fond exasperation.

“The weather is nice, yes,” Minseok responds before taking a sip from his cup. Then he sets it down and laughs, smoothing out the wrinkles in what shouldn’t be so odd a conversation. “Look, I know I have in the past made a few daring decisions before bringing it before either of you, but this time… well, I insist on hearing what you might have to say before acting.”

He brushes his nose with his knuckles and looks away, too embarrassed to proceed. Yifan has some idea already of what this is about.

“It’s about Lu Han,” he says. There’s no question here.

Junmyeon’s lips press into a permanent smile. Minseok looks down at his teacup and blushes again. “Yes.”

“Well, if it’s about his work performance, you know I trust your evaluations,” Yifan starts, “but… I’m guessing this isn’t quite work-related.”

Minseok shakes his head no. Before he has time to respond though, Yifan interrupts. “Then there’s really nothing you have to ask my permission for. Your private life is entirely that and… however you want to make that work is acceptable to us.”

It’s unbelievable that Minseok would have thought to ask Yifan’s permission to woo anyone seriously, and yet, here they are. A dozen years of friendship, only to find Minseok second-guessing their relationship as master and hired hand. Of course there are precedents if servants want to leave to get married or if they require extra lodging or pay bonuses, but this is Minseok and… “You’re my friend, Minseok. You and Junmyeon both. And… well, but I thought you invited us here today to have tea, so… shall we?”

Half an hour later, the conversation between the three of them returns to normal with a lot of reminiscing and laughter and stories and jokes. When the door opens from the outside, Yifan half expects it to be Baekhyun, finally caught up on playtime and whining for Yifan’s presence once more. Instead, it’s just Lu Han. His clothes are filthy from work, and his curly black hair is matted on one side. Yet he slinks into the cabin with a grand smile on his face. It only partially falters at the sight of Minseok’s guests, but when Minseok beckons him over, Lu Han forgets his reservations.

In another world, Yifan wouldn’t think twice about it, but when Lu Han sits down, and Minseok’s hands automatically moves to scratch behind the hybrid’s ears, Yifan knows they’re going to be fine. Lu Han’s face may hold to its neutral pleasant expression, but his tail is wagging a million miles an hour.

  
  
  
  
 

It’s a week later when the estate is set upon by an unfortunate disaster. The servants stand transfixed in the courtyard, their jaws agape, mumbled exasperations at the delivery vehicle which has come chugging along all the way from town just in time to back into a large fountain statue in front of the estate.

Yifan gets to the scene late, Baekhyun right on his heels, right in time to see the driver finally getting the back wheel of the motor truck up and out of the fountain while a group of men, and some of Yifan’s own employees, push the vehicle back onto the road.

“What even…” he asks himself, looking around for some answers. He didn’t order anything from town, and yet here is a shipment of something, from someone, currently making a mess is his own front yard.

“Sir!” says the harassed looking driver when the ordeal is finally done. “Are you Mr. Baekhyun?”

Yifan stares at the man, then at Baekhyun. The hybrid’s eyes are wide open and shocked. There are no answers there.

“I am not. This is Baekhyun.” He points at Baekhyun, and the driver immediately startles when he realizes what he is looking at. He recovers only in time to stutter some more and say, “D-delivery for him then, sir, from a Mr. Zhang?”

“From Yixing?” asks Baekhyun incredulously.

The man looks at his delivery slip and furrowed brows and then confirms it. “Yes. Mr. Zhang. Yixing. That is correct.”

“B-but,” Yifan stammers. “What is it?”

Yixing told him nothing about anything, and by the looks of it, Baekhyun is also entirely clueless.

“It’s a… some sort of musical instrument, sir. Would you please sign for it, and then allow us to unload it?”

If unloading it means putting it inside and not in the fountain, then Yifan assumes that will be alright. The driver, however, clearly uncomfortable with handing over such an important slip of paper to hybrid dog, gives the document to Yifan. Yifan promptly hands it and the pen over to Baekhyun, who signs it with a careful hand.

“Now, what is it?” Baekhyun’s ears flap gently in interest.

  
  
  
 

An hour later, after much struggling and a lot of discussion over where it should go… the newly made instrument sits stuffily in the middle of the music room Yifan’s sure nobody has used consistently since his aunt was a little girl. When finally, the servants depart, Yifan stares at it with large, horrified eyes. Baekhyun looks delighted.

“But, what is it?!” he exclaims, tail wagging like mad as he practically bounces around the instrument in a large circle. “What does it do? How does it sound?!”

He stops moving long enough to approach it and pluck loudly at one of the strings.

Yifan’s ears immediately rebel, and his toes curl in his shoes at the sound. Couldn’t Yixing have sent someone proficient enough to tune the stupid thing? Or else, an instructor for Baekhyun since he insisted, in attached personal letter, that Baekhyun should learn to play!

“It’s a harp,” Yifan deadpans.

“A harp? What’s a harp?”

“It plays notes… in a scale.”

“It looks like an upright, naked piano,” Baekhyun remarks, trying out another string with delight. The flat, harsh sound is ghastly but the hybrid doesn’t seem to notice. Couldn’t Yixing have sent something else, something a little less… hard to play? For instance, wouldn’t a flute have been nice?

“It’s not a naked piano. It’s a harp.”

“Yifan, I want to play it! How do I play it?”

Yifan clears his throat. “No idea, actually. How about I send for an instructor from town and they can teach you when-”

“But that could take ages, Yifan! Here, help me play it now!”

Yifan hesitates. “Are you sure you don’t want to start off learning to play the piano?” Eyeballing the dusty instrument in the corner of the room, at least Yifan could show Baekhyun a little proper technique at the piano. As for the harp… he’s only seen a professional play one once or twice in his life, and- “Oww!” He cringes when Baekhyun strums loudly across the high strings, each of them out of tune in their own special way.

“Piano can come later. Yifan, help me play this thing!”

And so, Baekhyun is absolutely insistent. Yifan finds himself pulling up a bench and setting it down beside the harp. He’s only half sure this is the correct positioning, but Baekhyun plops down on it immediately. Then comes the strange instruction on how to hold the harp, which the hybrid is far from mastering. After barely five minutes of watching him struggle, Yifan sits down himself and puts Baekhyun down on his lap.

“Oh, nice. I like this way very much,” says a pleased-sounding Baekhyun.

Yifan rolls his eyes.

“I’m beginning to think I should send you back to live with Yixing since you like his present so much.”

Baekhyun squawks indignantly, but not enough to stop pulling at the ghastly sounding strings. “Jealousy actually becomes you, Yifan. I think I like this side of you.” He laughs, but stops immediately when Yifan wraps his arms firmly across the front of Baekhyun’s waist.

“Do you now?” says Yifan, breathing huskily in Baekhyun’s ear.

The hybrid’s fingers retreat from the instrument as goosebumps appear up and down his arms. With his shirt sleeves pushed up, there’s no disguising the effect Yifan has on him. Not even Baekhyun can deny that. He giggles, and his ears twitch, but then he covers Yifan’s hands with his own. Silence envelopes the room.

In time, Baekhyun will probably master the harp, and then Yifan can only dream about how beautiful Baekhyun’s fingers will be. But right now, creeping across the tops of his own hands, Yifan is struck by how incredibly lucky he is to have Baekhyun at all.

The hybrid’s tail flutters, stilted between Baekhyun’s back and Yifan’s stomach. Only the tip that remains free across Yifan’s thigh jerks in a manner that Yifan recognizes as applied pleasure. He leans closer and kisses the side of Baekhyun’s neck, bringing about a soft sigh and a gasp. Baekhyun practically melts into his arms. In another situation, they could take this further. Maybe Yifan would dip his hand lower between Baekhyun’s legs and tease him there. However, right now, there’s something that gives him pause. The way Baekhyun relaxes against him, there’s no need for anything more. He he happy just where he is, content beyond anything Yifan could have imagined.

It’s perfect this way.

It’s going to be perfect this way for a long, long time.

That’s the vibe Yifan all too clearly reads from the most precious being of all.

“Baekhyun,” he whispers, nibbling carefree just below the hybrid’s left ear.

Baekhyun sighs and leans his head back even farther. “Hmm?” he murmurs.

“Baekhyun, you know I love you more than anything in the world, right?”

And still, the hybrid continues to melt into him, eyes closed, head back, the instrument in front of him completely forgotten. It takes ages for him to respond. The outside world could not exist. They might be entirely alone on the whole estate. Only the sound of a softly ticking clock dares cut through their soft revelry.

Then Baekhyun speaks.  “Oh, Yifan. If I even doubted that for a second, I would not still be here. I like you, Yifan. I like you so much. I like this place so much. I love you, everything about you. Thank you, for taking me in.”

Yifan smiles into the hybrid’s neck. “This is just me, being hospitable,” he teases uselessly.

Baekhyun moans, eyes still shut, but his mouth cracks open into a pleased sort of smile. “As long as it’s just for me. But seriously, thank you.”

Baekhyun doesn’t know it, or maybe he does, but he saved Yifan at least as much as Yifan saved him.

“No, thank you,” he says, finally kissing him again.

  
  
 

**The End**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for being patient with this fic, but also for sticking around for the end! I know it's been ages since I was able to update it. Lots of excuses, one of them is that I'M PREGNANT! And thus, dealing with various symptoms and fatigue etc etc. Meeeeh. But who cares about that lol. Krisbaek! This was such a joy to write. Thank you all for reading it. <333


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